Flower of the Fire
by Shining Through
Summary: During a fight between Team 7, Sakura is thrust into the Avatar world. Watch as she battles alongside Team Avatar and finds love along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm Shining Through and I decided to finally upload this Avatar / Naruto crossover! I hope you enjoy … so read and review!**

**Disclaimer: You all should know, but for those who don't …**

…**I do not own Naruto or the Avatar! **

"Sakura-chan, to your left!"

Sakura quickly jumped high in the air, bringing large amounts of chakra to her leg and with a battle cry kicked out at the opponent. The masked Sound ninja leaped back, hands flying to perform another jutsu to take down this pesky kunoichi. Sakura back flipped while Naruto dove towards this ninja and slammed his rasengan right through his chest. The blond pulled his arm out from this ninja's body, blood splattering all over his orange and black jumpsuit.

"Incoming!" Kakashi roared. Naruto used a burst of chakra to leap onto the highest tree he could find as Kakashi used his chidori to take out three enemies at once.

"Kick 90 degree!" Sakura screamed the code and Kakashi swiftly delivered a kick to another unnamed sound ninja. He and Naruto leaped off to a safe difference before Sakura gathered every ounce of chakra in her being to unleash a super kick. The ground split under her heel instantly, killing the rest of the enemy nin effectively and revealing four ninjas hiding safely underground.

"Sasuke," Sakura acknowledged, breathing loudly with eyes narrowed.

"Sakura," Sasuke drawled.

"Well, it's an improvement. You're actually starting to notice me," Sakura snarled. Two flashes appeared by her sides, Naruto to her left and Kakashi to her right, both ready to attack at the slightest movement.

"Hn. I see you're just as _annoying _as ever," Sasuke remarked coolly. Inner Sakura seethed. Sakura's outer façade was calm. Thanks to Ino and the Yamanaka techniques, they had been able to control Inner Sakura better. Of course, Inner was willing to do anything that would make her host stronger. Sakura's feelings of anger, irritation, and all of those negatives were stored in Inner Sakura who would take it out on obstacle courses Sakura created in her own mind. It was an effective technique, Sakura able to think more clearly and calmly even when facing this bastard with a horrible hair cut.

"And you still have that chicken butt hair cut," Sakura growled.

"Are we going to stand around here all day," the red head of his team sneered, "or are we going to fight."

"Ah… Naruto. Let's see how strong you have gotten," Sasuke said. He disappeared in a flash, only for his long katana to be blocked by a kunai from Naruto. Kakashi took care of Juugo, a large man with flaming orange hair, and Sakura focused on the two remaining teammates, that irritable red head and a silver haired man who resembled a shark.

"So you're Sakura," Karin tapped her manicured finger against her chin, "Sasuke-kun has mentioned you so much…"

"He never mentioned how much of a _babe _you were," Suigetsu gloated though, taking in her appearance appreciatively.

"Ew." Sakura bluntly said. Karin smacked Suigetsu over the head, only for her hand to go through water. Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"UGH! You know I hate when you do that!" Karin fumed.

"Well then don't do that!" Suigetsu offered.

"Then stop being such a damn brat!"

"Make me! Ngh," he pulled down an eye and stuck out his tongue.

'_Water huh… Any attack will just go through him o maybe I should use a medical ninjutsu against him. Infect the water his body is made of. And that red head… don't underestimate her… remember…don't underestimate her… There's a reason Sasuke chose her to be on his team… so she must be powerful.'_

Sakura calmly stood there, poised to attack. After their minor bickering, and Sakura's eyes starting to drift down to her nails which she really should get done once she had a vacation, Karin finally noticed her again.

"Huh, how queer… You had the chance to attack us and you didn't," she thought aloud to herself.

"Awww… pretty, sweet, strong, and smart! Marry me will you?" Suigetsu flirted playfully. Sakura had to resist the urge to smile.

"STOP FLIRTING WITH HER!" Karin screamed as she smashed her knee into his…regions. This time Suigetsu wasn't fast enough as he screamed, fell over, and curled into a small ball. The scream was able to alert everyone. Naruto instinctively starting cheering Sakura, until Sasuke jabbed him with his katana in the arm, not enough to make him bleed, just to make him pay attention, and everyone sweat dropped as they saw Karin shouting at Suigetsu while he was crying "Why'd you do that?" 

"The only reason I keep her around is because she can sense chakra," Sasuke explained quietly to Naruto. They stared at each other before attacking again. Juugo launched another series of attacks to Kakashi's clone, which Juugo did not notice yet, and Sakura sat herself down on a boulder.

"Well, now that he's out of the way, let's get down to business!" Karin yelled. Sakura frowned. She just got comfy on her makeshift boulder slash chair.

Karin launched herself at Sakura, smashing her foot where Sakura used to be. The rock cracked in half and Karin began a series of complicated hand signs. Sakura pulled senbon needles out of her kimono top and launched ten perfectly where her hands were. Like she predicted, Karin stopped her hand signs to catch the senbon needles.

Without wasting any time, Sakura punched the ground, causing to Karin to lose balance and Sakura launched ten more senbon needles at important pressure points which would paralyze the girl. Karin rolled out of the way, jumped up, and sent ten kunais at Sakura. Sakura pulled out a small dagger to deflect each kunai before throwing it at Karin and running towards her. Karin dodged the kunai but didn't expect Sakura to slice through her stomach with a chakra scalpel.

'_Direct hit…' _

Karin groaned as she fell to the ground, grasping her open wound. It was gushing blood. Sakura had hit an internal organ. With what strength she had left, Karin lifted her hand to her mouth. What she did was totally unexpected to Sakura. Karin took a huge bite from her hand, teeth sinking into the flesh and the wound in her stomach suddenly closing along with other scratches she had gotten during the battle.

"Nifty trick, huh?" Karin smirked breathlessly.

"Actually, I have to admit yes. Is that a kekkei genkai?" Sakura questioned, dropping her pose into a more relaxed stance.

Karin's eyes narrowed. "I'm not telling you!" she shrieked.

Sakura frowned and shrugged. "I was just trying to make conversation."

"Yeah right!" Karin screamed before she launched Sakura into a battle of Taijutsu. Sakura blocked Karin's attacks with ease. As soon as Karin sent her a right hook, Sakura grabbed it and flipped her to the ground, lifting her leg up high and bringing it down to Karin's stomach. Karin spat blood as she let out a bone chilling scream that stopped everyone in their tracks again. A huge crater formed underneath her, spreading underneath Kakashi and Juugo and Naruto and Sasuke's feet, causing them to jump to the safety of trees. The earth shattered and quaked, reducing boulders to large sums of dust which blinded everyone. When the dust finally cleared, a bloody mess was left of Karin's body.

"Suigetsu, do you want to fight or would you rather just like to rock back and forth as you are doing now?" Sakura questioned the fourth member of Team Hebi.

"Oh no no no no no, I'm good riiiight here," Suigetsu sweated as he stared at the unconscious thing that was Karin.

Sakura focused her attention on Kakashi and Juugo. It looked like Juugo was running out of energy while Kakashi as always wasn't even breathing hard. Shifting her glance to the duo, Sakura gasped as old memories flashed in front of her eyes. Memories of a 12 year old Naruto and Sasuke, battling on the Hospital roof. How when they charged at each other with their most powerful techniques… she had just run blind into the battle, crying hysterically for them to stop. The only reason she had survived was because Kakashi had interfered, stopping the techniques with his bare hands.

It wouldn't be like that again.

Sasuke charged from the sky, hand filled with a new and improved chidori which was silent, but probably even more lethal. Naruto's shadow clone had already disappeared and the wind styled rasengan was charging towards Sasuke's chidori.

"No…" Sakura whispered, tears pooling in her eyes.

"NO!" she screamed, tears flowing down her eyes and flying past her. She split the rest of her chakra reserves to pump her feet faster as she charged to interfere with her current and old teammate's battle and the other half into flowing medical ninjutsu into her hands.

Sasuke's sharingan eyes glinted with malice. _'We will finally see who is the better ninja…' _

Naruto's eyes filled with the red chakra of the Kyuubi dulled with sadness. _'I'm sorry it had to come to this…' _

The two pair of eyes misted, but before they could impact, their eyes widened as the pink haired kunoichi grasped the chidori and rasengan in her medical infused hands.

"No," she whispered . Everything happened in a flash. Sasuke felt himself thrown backwards as flashes of his 'annoyance' went through his mind. Naruto crashed into a tree as he thought of his 'sister'. And Kakashi was oblivious to everything that happened after dirt covered the entire battle area. Sakura felt herself being pulled in every single direction, every little cell fiber screaming in agony.

'_Make it stop! Make it stop!' _

It felt like the world was pulling her entire body apart, piece by piece, cell by cell. Her veins were on fire, it was nauseating, and not even Ibiki's torture techniques could compare to this utter agony. Finally, when Sakura was about to lose consciousness, she was thrown harshly against stone tiles, feeling her ribs break against impact.

'_Stone tiles? We were fighting in a forest…' _her semi conscious mind thought.

"Hey wait! Aang, come over here!" a very masculine voice shouted before a body kneeled next to her. Her emerald eyes peered from under heavy eyelids at this boy. It was blurry and there were black dots dancing across her vision, but she could make out the main image. Gold eyes scanned her as large hands cupped her head gently, inspecting the pink locks and blood pooling from a head injury. Shaggy black hair fell across his forehead and eyes and Sakura had the urge to brush it out of his face. Groaning, she lifted her hand and tucked his locks securely behind his ear, mumbling, "That was going to bug me…"

"Stay conscious. We have a healer here," he said in a deep and throaty voice, slapping her face gently. Sakura felt dizzy when he took her pale hand in his own, squeezing gently.

Sakura almost groaned in protest when the hand holding hers suddenly dropped and the hand behind her head retreated. She was vaguely aware of her body glowing green as her healing chakra seeped in instinctively to clean up whatever mess she had made this time.

"Sasuke… Naruto…" she murmured before she let herself lose consciousness.

**Sooooo… how did you like? I'll update every Friday, but only if I get five reviews for this first chapter! I'm sorry if that's asking for a lot, but I figure that more than five people will read this so I want at least five people to review. But if I already have five reviews, feel free to just add in another. I mean, I won't mind. **

…**well anyways, see you soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Avatar: Last Airbender**

**A/N: Oh my gosh! 18 reviews… EIGHTEEN! That's 13 more than I asked for! Thank you so much for all of the story alerts, story favorites, and amazing reviews! I hope you enjoy…**

**CHAPTER 2 **

Sakura blinked awake when she sensed someone entering her room. Jumping out of bed, Sakura crouched to the floor, sticking her hand inside her kimono top to look for her hidden weapons. She paused. Looked down. Screamed.

"Katara! Is everything alright?" a small boy asked as he and a few others peered into the room. The pinkette was currently looking down at the blue silk robe she was dressed in, lifting her feet and checking for _anything _she could use to defend herself with.

No weapons… no poison… no nothing. Sakura felt so bare at that moment. Her cherry blossom accessories were gone too. Glancing at the others in the room now, Sakura laughed awkwardly and decided to cover herself with the blankets again.

"Um… where are my clothes?" Sakura asked.

"I stored them underneath the bed," a girl with wavy brown hair answered.

"Thanks, do you mind…" Sakura left the sentence hanging and the girl immediately got the point. She shooed everyone out quickly. Closing the door behind her, the brunette offered a friendly smile laced with suspicion and the door shut with a _click_.

"If you're going to try to fool the enemies… try making it so it's not _obvious _that you're suspicious of them," Sakura grumbled to herself. Untying the sash around the robe, she changed into the red kimono top. It had gold stitching and gold hems around her waist and sleeves. There was a large gold ribbon tied under her breasts to make a large bow, and the crimson sleeves squeezed her arms while it opened into large sleeves around her wrist. The back of the kimono top was tied together with thin gold ribbons, which showed off her pale back. She next climbed into her mid thigh, spandex shorts showing off her endless legs, and fastened her black, knee length ninja heeled boots on afterwards. Checking to make sure all of her hidden weapons were still intact, she tied her long pink hair up into a formal terra twist with a gold ribbon she pulled from her bodice.

Strapping summoning scrolls for weapons, healing methods, and history scrolls around her waist, she fastened a cherry blossom necklace on, the cherry blossom petals dipping into her V-neck. Putting on the matching earrings and flower above her right ear, she checked to make sure it was still working. There was an odorless poison in these accessories. A favorite attack of hers was to consume the poison into her body and spit it out into a clear mist which slightly sparkled in the sunlight, but otherwise it was undetected and paralyzed the enemy. She had created the poison while Shizune had taught her the ways of consuming poisons without injuring herself.

Deeming herself ready, Sakura opened the door quietly, peering out. Once convinced that no one was going to sneak attack her, she walked up a large spiral of stairs where she could hear murmured voices.

"Where did you say you found her again?" It was the same girl as before.

There was a murmured response and Sakura strained her ears to hear well.

"So she fell from the sky?"

"I don't know! But what if she's a fire spy?"

"I don't think so," the masculine voice from before whispered, "Didn't you see the way she glowed green and her wounds healed? It's certainly not a bending technique. Perhaps she's a spirit…?"

A young voice piped in, "No spirit I know has _pink _hair."

Deciding that she had heard enough, Sakura inferred the group was afraid she was a spy for an organization that was plotting against them. The pinkette walked up the stairs loudly. They stopped all conversation and Sakura smiled at them.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Sakura bowed formally.

"You are welcome," a small boy with a bald head and a blue arrow on his forehead answered. He bowed, "My name is Aang."

"Aang?" Sakura questioned, frowning slightly. Katara's eyes narrowed.

"I'm Katara," she said though, holding her hand out to Sakura. Sakura shook it, knowing after studying that handshakes were another formal way of introducing oneself.

"Sokka, I'm her brother," he said, shaking her hand as well.

"Toph," a girl with very pale eyes, much like the Hyuugas kekkei genkai, said. But Sakura knew she was in fact blind.

"Zuko," the boy who rescued her said, uncrossing her arms to give her a low bow of respect. Sakura mirrored the actions.

"My name is Haruno Sakura," she said lastly, rising to meet their eyes.

"Like… your first name is Haruno?" Katara asked slowly.

"No," Sakura blinked conspicuously, "Um… from where I am from, it is customary to introduce yourself, last name first."

"Where are you from?" Katara asked.

"It's a small village called Konoha. Located in Japan," Sakura explained.

"I don't know what you mean by Japan," Aang said hesitantly. "Perhaps you have a minor confusion. There are the four nations: The Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. Does any of that ring a bell?"

"_Shit_," Sakura cursed silently.

"What was that?" Katara asked.

"Nothing," Sakura brushed off. She sighed and cradled her chin in her hands.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked.

"Well… It's an extremely long story and I'm not so sure if you would believe me…" Sakura sighed.

"Tell us while we train," Zuko offered. Sakura nodded. _'So… they train. Does that mean they are ninja too or… HOLY CRAP!' _

Sakura gaped openly at this new sight. Zuko had just punched mid air, and fire shot out of his fists only to be blocked by Katara using martial art hand movements and it summoned water to do her bidding.

"How do you do that?" Sakura blurted out, racing towards Zuko and cradling his fist in her own hand. She flipped it open analyzing anything that was out of the normal. Everything was fine however.

"Do what?" he asked confused.

"That!" Sakura said exasperated, "Shooting fire out of your fists!"

"Do you not know of bending?" Zuko's eyebrows furrowed. Sakura shook her head 'no'.

"Oh," everyone was looking at each other curiously.

"I guess we should explain," Zuko offered and he sat Sakura down. Toph, Katara, and Aang went over water and earth bending while Zuko and Sakura sat on the edge of the Air Temples, Sakura sipping her tea as Zuko explained the basics of bending. He went over the four nations, how each martial arts were different, and the entire story about the war.

"So, Aang is the Avatar. Being the Avatar means that he has the …ability to master all four elements. But also being the Avatar, it is his…destiny to stop the Fire Nation's reign," Sakura said slowly, trying to comprehend this new and exciting story.

"Correct," Zuko nodded. He poured Sakura another cup of Jasmine tea, one of his specialties which his uncle had taught him to make. Zuko's gold eyes dimmed as he placed the teapot down again.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked him, setting his tea cup down gently.

"Nothing," Zuko murmured, crossing his arms.

"You know it helps when you talk about it," Sakura offered nonchalantly, taking a sip of her tea.

"I know," Zuko answered.

"Well then you should also know," Sakura prodded gently, "That sometimes it helps when you talk about your problems with a complete stranger. It helps because I don't know anything about you, so I can't judge you." Frowning, she continued, "And when I leave, I'll take your secrets to the grave."

Zuko felt his heart clench when she said 'when I leave'. He passed it off as nostalgia from this caring girl whose personality reminded him of his Uncle. How they were both compassionate and caring about others, even to strangers.

"I…" Zuko paused, "Why don't we round up the others and you can explain to us your story." He got up, leant Sakura a hand, and she nodded. Gripping his hands in hers, he pulled her up and she offered him a smile. Slightly smiling back, Zuko led Sakura to the others.

For the next hour, Sakura explained her own story. She explained when the ninja academies started, what chakra was, the different ranks of ninja, different missions she had been on, the jutsus she knew, what her rank was, how she was a medic ninja, and finally leading into the fight between the new Team 7 against Team Hebi.

"When all three of our chakras combined, a demon chakra, Uchiha chakra, and medical chakra, I suppose that me being the catalyst of all three chakras, I was sent through to another universe," Sakura bluntly said, her only logical explanation of how she ended up here.

"Ninjas?" Katara said a little unbelievingly.

"Hey, if there are benders, why can't there be ninjas?" Toph casually remarked. Sakura smiled at her, and sensing her, Toph smiled back.

"Obviously we already had a demonstration," Sokka said too, "after we witnessed Sakura healing herself. Man, she looked so broken…and then the next morning she looked perfectly fine." He shook his head in disbelief.

"But I can only wonder, what would my earth bending be against your chakra infused punches," Toph remarked.

"Only one way to find out," Sakura smirked. Toph gave her a challenging grin in response and they got up. Finding a clear, deserted wasteland, the two girls took up their positions. About twenty feet away, they stood like actors in cowboy movies, hands at their sides with their fingers twitching. The duo bowed and took up their stances.

"After you," Toph shrugged. With a battle cry, Sakura summoned the chakra to her fist, and crashed it against the ground. Earth split all the way to Toph and beyond, causing the three other benders and Sokka to scream and evacuate the area. Toph stomped the ground, extended her fist, and did a sweeping kick. Sent at Sakura were three boulders and only with Sakura's enhanced vision as she able to see the crack that Toph sent to knock her unbalanced.

Smashing through the boulders, Sakura leaped up high in the air, using her chakra to kick at the spot Toph was occupying, not enough chakra to kill her, but at least a few broken bones Sakura could heal in an instant. Toph jumped out of the way in time, but a flying boulder smashed into her shoulder.

"Alright, that's enough," Katara called out, rushing over to heal the fallen girl. However, Sakura was already on it, hand signs too fast for the human eye to watch already formed and a glowing hand placed over Toph's shoulder.

"It's strange," Toph commented after Sakura finished and offered her a hand. "It's almost like… I can't sense the boulders that have, what was it called again Sakura?"

"Chakra," Sakura answered, brushing off some dirt from Toph's hair.

"Right, I can't sense the boulders that have been infused with chakra. It's almost like… they're out of my control," Toph said, kicking a pebble.

"Is it the same with all elements?" Aang asked.

"Only one way to find out," Sakura shrugged again.

"What elements can you control again?" Zuko asked.

"Mostly just earth and fire. Wind and water aren't my specialties," Sakura answered.

"Well then why don't you use a fire technique against me, and I'll see if I can control the fire," Zuko offered.

"Sure," Sakura nodded, "but… just be careful. Fire is my natural element, but with my fiery attitude… it can get out of control."

Zuko frowned. "I know the feeling."

The two felt an understanding immediately, knowing the effects of having the powerful fire to their advantage and use, but the concentration and control they must master before even attempting a small spark. Maybe, Zuko could tell her of past experiences he had had. And maybe he could learn more about these ninja jutsus.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Sakura shouted, finishing the final hand sign before holding a ring over her mouth. A great ball of fire shot from her mouth, reminding Zuko momentarily of his Uncle's demonstration of 'how he got the name 'Dragon of the West'' when they had been escaping Azula in the Earth Kingdom.

However, Zuko quickly got his head back in the game. Taking his stances, he stepped back and went into a low left forward stance, thrusting his palm out with his fist behind it to support it to deflect the flames. However, when the flaming ball didn't stop right away, Zuko's gold eyes widened before Katara jumped in, moving her arms around in wide circles to bend water over Sakura's jutsu.

"Alright, now that's enough," Katara chided. Sakura's eye twitched.

"Does she always act so motherly?" Sakura whispered to Toph.

Toph shrugged. "You have to get used to it."

"Did I hurt you, Zuko?" Sakura questioned softly, gliding to his side and lifting his hands to inspect. At the sight of a slight scorch, Sakura placed two fingers over it and it disappeared.

"That's amazing," Zuko breathed. Sakura flushed and dropped their hands. Katara rolled her eyes. "Teenagers," she muttered underneath her breath.

"So um…" Sakura couldn't find her voice. She was captivated by Zuko. His gold eyes looked at her curiously. Hesitantly, a pale hand found its way to Sakura's hair and took a lock in his fingers. Sakura could feel her cheeks tint pink and her breathing became labored as Zuko leaned in closer … and closer…

"Is that your real hair color?"

Sakura fell over anime style.

'_CHA! What am I thinking? I just met the dude! So what if I think he's even more gorgeous than Sasuke! And so what if he has that scar which makes him look bad ass? He's not going to affect me. AT ALL!' _

With this new thought in her head, Sakura swatted his hand away playfully, sticking her tongue out at him with a "Yes!" Zuko chuckled and dropped his hand. With hands behind his head, he turned and walked.

"So what are we doing for dinner tonight?"

…

…

…

Sakura gathered around the campfire, setting herself in between Sokka and Aang. When Katara water bended her soup into her bowl, Sakura couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her throat, and the large smile that followed after. Katara couldn't help but smile at Sakura. She had the innocence of a child, even though she had probably seen hundreds die, but it was refreshing to have someone so innocent and naïve to the horrible world that the Fire Nation had created.

In a hurry, Sakura downed her soup and asked Katara to bend more soup in. Katara obliged and gave her a second round which Sakura gasped again and let out a delighted squeal.

"Sorry," Sakura said bashfully.

"It's cute," Sokka replied, laughing along with the others. Sakura giggled and couldn't help the thought that floated through her head _'It feels like home…' _

"So Sakura, are you staying with us?" Katara asked.

Sakura frowned. "I don't know actually," she replied truthfully, "I suppose, if you don't mind I'd like to stay until I can find a way home."

"Of course," Toph smiled cheekily.

"And maybe we could put your skills to use," Aang thought aloud, "I mean, if benders can't control your elemental jutsus, then that could come in handy."

"I'd be honored to help as much as I can," Sakura bowed formally to the group, "It is the least I can do for your hospitality."

"Alright, well then we should all go to bed now. Tomorrow, Zuko can help Aang with his fire bending," Katara instructed. She turned to Zuko, "Bring Sakura to her room, will you?"

He nodded. Katara called out to them one more time, "And Sakura, there should be a nightgown in the closet."

Bowing to Katara, she quickly skipped after Zuko. As they walked side by side through the Air Temple, it was a comfortable silence.

"Do you still want to talk?" Sakura questioned, keeping her eyes straight forward.

Zuko faltered in his steps before continuing on, "No."

Sakura let it drop.

"So… the weather's nice," Sakura commented. Zuko stopped in his tracks. A small smirk crossed his lips before it broke out into a large smile.

"What?" Sakura asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You're talking about the weather so casually …when there's a war going on," Zuko laughed to himself, "I haven't heard anyone this casual or carefree in a long time. It's …refreshing."

As Zuko opened her bedroom door for her, and left waving whilst still letting out chuckles, Sakura decided one thing when she was changing, she really did like the sound of his laugh. With someone who acted as stoic as he did, his laugh was like a breath of fresh air or a drink of clear water. It was low and raspy and very attractive.

And so Sakura decided that while she was here, her main goal (even higher than getting home which surprised her) was to get Zuko to laugh more.

**Well, that was Chapter 2! I'll update Chapter 3 if I have more than 30 reviews and in hopefully two weeks! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ehm… ehm… Sorry for the three week wait everybody. But in my defense, since my previous chapters have been about 2000 words and it takes a week to update them, this chapter is 6000 and it took three weeks to update it! So it kind of evens out, ne?**

**Alright, about the reviews… I meant 30 reviews like, in all, Chapter 1 and 2 combined, the whole enchilada. So sorry about the misunderstandings… A special thanks to Nice Guy 13 for helping me realize that I looked like I was asking for 30 reviews for the chapter, when I was just asking for 30 in all. **

**For all of you who are saying that I shouldn't have a 'ransom for reviews' or whatever, I just want to make sure that you guys are reviewing because it makes me feel appreciated. But I won't have a requirement for this chapter, but please review anyways! And on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar or Naruto**

**Chapter 3**

Sakura lay on her stomach, eyes wide and sparkling as she watched Zuko trying to fire bend. Everyone else was getting bored after ten minutes of his fails, but Sakura couldn't stop watching him. Sure, barely any fire was coming out of his hands, and sure he was getting cranky, but the fact that even a little bit of smoke was coming out of his hands and feet without any chakra was amazing to her.

When a small flame, the size of her fist (which wasn't that big) came out of his foot, she couldn't help gasping.

Zuko glanced at her. For some reason, looking at the lovely strands of pink framing her angelic face and shining eyes, Zuko couldn't get annoyed with her. If anything, her amazement was the only fuel that kept him working hard to fire bend correctly. Otherwise without her, he probably would have given up an hour ago. After ten minutes of no progress, Sokka left. Katara left half an hour later. Toph shortly joined her and Aang left once Katara started serving lunch. Only Sakura stayed on her belly, watching him with her emerald eyes. Unfortunately, those emerald eyes, which were so easily amazed by every little movement he made, were egging him on to try to accomplish more, which would only frustrate him when he couldn't figure out how to.

"Ugh! I just can't do it!" Zuko shouted in aggravation finally, landing on his butt. Sakura was by his side in a flash, checking his forehead and inspecting his pupils.

"Huh, no fever… eyes aren't dilated… Oh. You're just frustrated," she blinked at this obvious recognition. Zuko couldn't find enough heart to back hand her with a snippy comment. He couldn't even think straight when her intoxicating and natural perfume of cherry blossom petals invaded his senses. Slowly, just meditating and breathing in that sweet scent started to calm him down.

"I need help with my fire bending," Zuko muttered, "but I don't know what's wrong with it in the first place."

Sakura felt touched he was opening up to her. Sitting next to him with her foot nudging his, she responded, "Maybe it has something to do with the Avatar. You did mention that fire bending was at its' strongest when you had a drive, a motivation. You were motivated to capture the Avatar and restore your honor. But perhaps since you have already restored your honor on your own and you are helping the Avatar, that fuel is gone."

Zuko thought over this carefully. Staring at Sakura's pretty face with his gold eyes, he remarked, "So what you're saying is that I need another drive?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, but perhaps you should ask the others as well. Since I'm not from this world, I don't know the ways of the bending."

"I thought your answer was pretty accurate," Zuko shrugged, "but since you do know best, I'll ask them at dinner." Pulling himself up, he offered a hand to Sakura who accepted it gracefully. Walking side by side, pale hands brushed.

Sakura let her eyes drift to an empty field.

"Zuko," she said abruptly and Zuko stopped with her, "do you mind if I train for a little while? You don't have to hang around, but I figure I need to practice so I don't get out of shape."

Zuko nodded, following her to the field and setting himself on a nearby boulder. Now it was his time for his gold eyes to sparkle and shimmer as he watched her amazing and nearly impossible movements.

**(WARNING: There is a little, teeny bit of gore, very un graphic however, so if you get nauseas easily, then don't read. Otherwise, it's very simple and not that bad anyways. But I figured you deserved a warning. Continuing the story …NOW!)**

Sakura decided that she didn't want to keep Zuko waiting around all day, so she would only practice the most important ones to her. The first warm up was tree climbing. Remembering the fond days with Team 7, she summoned the chakra to her feet and ran up an old oak tree. Zuko let out his own gasp when she actually walked up the tree and disappeared from view. About five minutes later, she came flying down, only to land gracefully on her two feet. She practiced her aim for about five minutes, using senbon needles and kunais to pin falling leaves to tree trunks. Next, grabbing a scroll from her sash, she summoned an axe, three katanas, and a metal fan just for the summoning practice and put all away but the katana. Pricking her finger on the edge, she deemed it worthy and dug it into her arm.

Zuko felt nauseas. He wanted to shout out for her to stop, but he knew, if this was her practice, then so let it be. Still, he had to cover his eyes every now and again.

Sakura dug the katana into her arm, then pulled it up so it basically cut her arm in half. She bent it down, however, so Zuko wouldn't see both halves hanging limply. Sakura couldn't help herself from blushing at the thought that Zuko cared about her, but he didn't want to interrupt her training. It was so sweet and considerate.

Switching from hand sign to hand sign, Sakura called out, "Zuko! It's alright to look now."

Zuko trusted her, and opened his eyes. Now it was a truly miraculous sight, watching the green glowing hand heal the injured arm. He could see the cells growing again, bones forming and readjusting itself, and lastly the final coat of skin over her arm. Once Sakura wiped the blood off of her arm, Zuko took it in his hands, inspecting the forearm carefully. It didn't even have a scratch on it.

"Sick," he breathed. Sakura grinned at him. Leading him once more to a lake, she washed off her arm and the cloth she used to clean her arm.

"There's just too much blood on the towel," Sakura frowned, holding up the blood red cloth for emphasis.

Zuko rolled his eyes, "I wonder why."

Sakura splashed him. Zuko's eye twitched.

Forming quick hand signs, a spark of fire burst out of her fingers, and she caught the towel on fire. Once it had reduced to ash, she dropped it in the lake.

"Alright!" she chirped, "Ready to…" SPLASH

Zuko threw a large rock into the water, causing it to fly in every direction and soak Sakura's head. She turned at him, green eyes narrowed with a malicious smirk on her face. Before Zuko could react, she grabbed his wrist and pulled them both into the water. Crashing into the water, Sakura was laughing joyfully in the water. Popping her head out, Zuko was spluttering water out of his mouth, but even he was laughing loudly too.

"See, you don't mess with me," Sakura giggled, splashing him for good measures.

Zuko smirked, splashing her back before clambering out of the water.

"I admit," he said as he helped her out, "pulling a fire bender into water was a good idea. But, you do realize you soaked yourself as well." Giving her his own attracted smirk, he dried off his clothes with his limited fire bending and remarked, "But unlike me, you can't dry yourself off."

Sakura frowned, looking at her dripping kimono.

"I was having too much fun to be cautious," Sakura frowned.

Zuko laughed. He started walking away and Sakura hurried to follow him.

…

…

…

Sakura lounged in her room while Zuko explained to the others why his fire bending wasn't working. She hummed softly as she discarded her kimono, now walking around with her bandages bonded around her chest and her usual simple shorts. She needed to find more outfits. The only good part was Zuko had assured her that she was wearing a fire bending outfit worn by priestesses and such.

Sighing, she flopped down on her bed, curling into the old sheets. They smelled good.

Eyes drifting closed… Sakura woke up the next morning as the rising sun came up. Stretching, she climbed out of bed and pulled her kimono back on. Exiting the room with bare feet tip toeing across the wood panels, she was surprised to see Aang and Zuko loading Appa for an adventure, Sakura guessed.

While Aang strapped a glider to his back and Zuko grabbed a bag, Sakura swung herself up into Appa's saddle, peering over the ledge curiously.

"Where are you guys going?"

The two boys screamed and jumped, ready to attack when they saw Sakura looking at them with unmasked curiosity.

"Last night," Aang started. "When you ditched me so I had to tell everyone by myself," Zuko pouted in the backgrounds. "When Zuko explained to us that he couldn't fire bend," Aang continued, "Toph made the suggestion that we should go find the origins of Fire bending. For example, Toph had learned her earth bending from Badger Moles. The only problem was that the origin of Fire bending were the dragons, but they are now extinct. So Zuko and I are on our way to the ruins of the Sun Warrior's civilization, warriors that used to train from the Dragons themselves so we think that we could learn something from their ruins!" Aang summarized all of this in one breath, thanks to his air bending, and Sakura's head was cocked to the side.

"All I understood was you guys are going on an adventure to fire bend and I want to come!" Sakura chirped happily. She dashed into the house to find her boots and dashed back in less than five seconds with her outfit prepared, scrolls around her waist, long boots fastened tightly, but pink locks out of her terra twist with the cherry blossom missing but her ninja head plate being used as a headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes.

"Should we?" Zuko asked Aang. Aang shrugged, "No harm."

And so, this is how Sakura lazily leaned against Zuko, Zuko was blushed a cherry red, and Aang directed them to the ruins of the Sun Warrior's civilization.

After a few hours of riding on the bison, which Sakura never grew tired of, they finally came to a large area with pyramids, pillars, and wild life growing everywhere. It strongly resembled the old ruins of the Aztecs.

"Wow," Aang gasped. "Oooh," Sakura sang. Zuko let his eyebrows quirk.

Appa came to a halt and Aang jumped off of the bison, Zuko helping Sakura down.

"Thanks Zuko," Sakura giggled, letting her fingers dance across his shoulders. Zuko kept his head down so she couldn't see his blazing cheeks.

Walking through a path with tall walls, Sakura inspected each brick and tile and little speck of dirt as Zuko started talking: "Even though these buildings are ancient, there is something fairly familiar about it. I can tell the fire siege's temples are somehow descendents from these."

"Alright, we've learned something about architecture," Aang said playfully, "now let's see if we can learn something about fire bending!" Enthusiastically striding Aang barely noticed Sakura when she let out a protest of "Watch out!"

Aang's bald head turned towards her and Sakura palm faced herself when he tripped over the black cord she had been trying to warn him about. Aang triggered a booby trap, tripping over empty tile with spikes sticking out of the dirt instead. **(Watch the episode if you have questions)**. Sakura squealed in delight when Aang used his air bending to do a flip in mid air and land on the other side successfully.

"Oh great!" Aang groaned, "Even the past is trying to kill me!"

Zuko ignored him while Sakura let out a small giggle. "This booby trap must be centuries old… yet it still works perfectly," he commented while inspecting the black cord. Dropping it, he stepped back a few steps before performing a wall run to get to the other side successfully. **(Once again, watch the episode if you have questions. But if any of you have an idea how to explain it better, then please message me or leave it in a review and with your permission, I would love to replace my description with your own!) **

Sakura calmly walked over the ledge, gracefully jumping from point to point until she reached the other side in record timing. Zuko and Aang had anime eyes when watching Sakura jump from point to point. The tips of those rocks should have pierced the skin if you even pricked your finger on it.

"Are you sure we should be here?" Aang asked worriedly once Sakura successfully made it to the other side, holding her feet up to show 'See? No boo-boos!'

"If it'll help your fire bending, yeah," Sakura shrugged, "Besides, the only reason the Sun Civilization would have booby traps, would be if they had something to protect." She winked at the Avatar and continued up the long train of steps.

After about thirty minutes of Aang and Sakura playing iSpy and Zuko avoiding the temptation to rip out all of his hair from their childish game ("You're fifteen, aren't you?" Zuko asked exasperated about half way up. Sakura winked at him, "Why? Want to make sure I'm of dating age?" Zuko growled and stormed up the next three sets of stairs). Aang was starting to pant and Zuko was trudging up the stairs, trying to show that he wasn't affected by the heat and exercise at all. Only Sakura was having an easy time up, claiming "I'm a ninja, remember?"

About fifteen minutes later, they finally made it to the top where a large picture of a man controlling fire connected to dragons on either side of him was sculpted onto a fifty foot wall. After a few minutes of looking at it, it could be debatable whether the man was controlling the fire the dragons were blowing, or whether he was being burned in a prism of fire.

"Well this looks promising," Aang smiled through his sweat, "but I'm not sure this tells us about the original source of fire bending."

Zuko paused, "Well they look pretty angry to me."

"I thought the Dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors," Aang commented curiously.

"Odd way of showing it," Zuko snorted. Sakura realized then that Aang saw the man controlling the fire, and Zuko saw the man being burned by it. _'Must be a reason why…' _Sakura frowned to herself. **'Maybe because Aang is an optimist and Zuko is pretty pessimistic,' **Inner drawled.

Zuko turned away and Sakura contemplated Inner's words before following him. Because she was distracted, she didn't realize something was eating away at Zuko. Luckily Aang did.

"Zuko, something happened to the Dragons in the last hundred years," Aang paused, "something you're not telling me."

Zuko spared him a glance before walking forward again. "My grandfather Sozin happened." The trio began walking across a bridge to another pyramid before Zuko started talking again, "It was him who started the tradition of dragon hunting. He claimed that if a fire bender were to kill a Dragon, it would increase their skills to the level of legendary and they would be granted the title of 'Dragon'. The dragons went extinct after …my Uncle killed the last one."

"I thought your Uncle was good," Aang frowned.

"It was the past," Zuko snapped. Aang flinched. Giving him an apologetic glance, Zuko cast the ground a downward look before replying "Family tradition I guess."

Sakura jogged up to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder which he took into his. Rubbing circles into his fist, he relished in the moment before she let go and he started leading again.

The scenery changed once more to a large kingdom hidden behind gates, the door a large gold circle with different engravings carved into it. Aang rushed to it, pulling at it and pushing, even using air bending to try to push it open, but each attempt was met with failure. Zuko scratched the back of his head contemplating. He paused. The back of his head was hotter than usual, meaning that there was a bright and hot light his black hair was soaking up. Turning, he noticed the large gold tower behind him, reflecting light onto a tablet in the stone floor.

"It's a celestial calendar," he thought aloud, "Just like the Fire Sage's have in their temples." He glanced at the gates again to find a large red gem above the center of the gate. "I bet," he observed, "that when the sunlight hits that stone just right, then it'll open."

"Monkey feathers!" Aang cussed. Sakura felt her lips quirk up into a smile. _'Monkey feathers? So gotta try that out if I ever get home.' _

"We can't wait that long," Aang continued, throwing his hands up in the air to emphasize his point.

Zuko spared him a glance before looking around and golden eyes finally settling on the metal ninja plate used as a headband.

"Toss me your headband, will you?" Zuko asked and Sakura untied it with no hesitation, throwing it in his direction. Zuko caught it in an outstretched hand, bending down and reflecting the light from the golden tower so it aligned with the light on the tile to form a perfect circle.

"No we can't," Zuko felt the ghost of a smile cross his lips, "but we can speed time up." Adjusting Sakura's ninja plate, he moved the circular light from the tower to slowly climb up the wall of the gate, climbing around the arch to finally land on the red gem above the center. Once he held it there for three seconds, the gate slid open.

"Sweet," Sakura breathed. Zuko smirked at her. Straightening up, he motioned Sakura to turn around. Blushing, Sakura lifted her hair so Zuko could tie the ninja band back around her hair. Sakura couldn't help but smile giddily as his usually nimble fingers tried to tie the ribbon successfully, but in the end it was clumsy and not very good. Sakura loved it though.

"Alright guys," Aang said irritably, "Stop flirting so we can learn how to fire bend already."

Sakura and Zuko blushed heavily and followed him into the new room, but Aang realized that neither one of them denied anything.

'_Hey, she might actually be melting that cold heart of his,' _Aang thought to himself in a sing-song matter, _'Wait till I tell Katara! We can tease them all the time… Payback is sweeeet.' _

Giggling to himself, he rubbed his hands together with a drugged look in his eyes and his tongue rolling out in giddiness.

"Weeeird," Sakura and Zuko murmured to each other.

He looked around, taking in the large statues of Sun Warriors doing complex…dance moves arranged in a small circle on either side of the entry, until they met in the middle of the back.

"Not as weird as this," Zuko replied as he inspected the statues carefully. They didn't look like they had any real meaning to themselves besides for decoration. Maybe this was the training room and they were inspirational? He and Sakura inspected and pondered ideas while Aang finally broke out of his plans for revenge and observed the statues himself.

Aang stood in front of one of the statues. Its leg was held up in a crane stance and its arms were extended outwards with its wrists flicked up.

"Ooh," Aang's eyes were glossy. He duplicated the movement, eyes narrowed with concentration in case this was a fire bending stance.

Before he knew what was happening, the statue was getting bigger…and bigger! Until it stopped growing. Aang looked down. Oh. The floor below him had sunk, the statue wasn't growing.

Then it hit him like a truck of bricks. Brown eyes searching the other dance moves running in a circle on either side until they met in the middle, Aang latched himself against Zuko's arm in a flash.

"Zuko! Dance with me!"

Sakura paused. Zuko cringed. Aang continued to pull.

"What?" Sakura questioned, cocking her head to the side. Was it normal in this world for men to dance with men? Sure it was okay for girls to dance with other girls, but men and men? Her eye twitched.

"No, it is not normal," Zuko snarled as if reading her thoughts.

"No, not like that!" Aang stepped away quickly, flushed with embarrassment, "But look at the statues! Just follow the stances of the statues!"

After much convincing, and a pleading and puppy dog eyes from Sakura, Zuko slouched in front of the statue, very reluctantly lifting his leg and arms.

"Stop being a baby," Aang shouted at him as they synchronized to duplicate the second statue. Zuko muttered curses under his breath, until his eyes widened to see the stones underneath his foot sink.

"See," Aang said smugly, "it isn't just dance moves." Sakura was awed by the grace and stances of this form, now being applied in real life. It looked strong, powerful, but graceful at the same time. It was nothing like the ruthless killing with a few dirty tricks the ninjas used. "These statues are giving us a lesson; it's teaching us the Sun Warrior Fire Bending."

The two finally came to an end, arms extended over their heads, in a collapsing stance and fists almost pressed against each other. They looked at each other and then at Sakura who shrugged in reply.

"Just wait there. Maybe it takes three seconds like it did out… side." In the middle of Sakura's advice, a pedestal rose from the middle of the room with a large gold egg reflecting the sunlight.

"Shiny," Sakura squealed, racing up to Zuko's side as he extended his arms to grab it.

"Uh, is that a good idea?" Sakura asked, the gold shell of the egg reflecting in her eyes to make them sparkle and shimmer.

"Sakura's right Zuko," Aang insisted, "We don't know what it is or what it does. Should we really be taking it?"

"It's an ancient and mystical gem," Zuko replied, fingers brushing the top, "Why shouldn't we take it?"

"Don't you remember the spikes?" Aang asked exasperated, "I'm actually afraid of mystical, shining jewels sitting on pedestals!"

His exasperated expression took up an irritated one as his eyebrow twitched. Zuko had reached out and placed his large hand on the egg. To further irritate the air bender, he picked it up boldly, eyes frowning.

"It feels … almost alive," he observed. When nothing out of the ordinary happened, he cast his gaze sideways before placing the egg back on the pedestal. Right as he was about to place it down, a greenish glob rose from the stand like a water fountain, spraying Zuko all the way to the ceiling of the room and slamming him against criss crossed bars. The door they had entered through closed and the substance started to pour out.

"Ouch," he whimpered, "I can't get out! It's like… some type of glue!"

"What did I tell you?" Aang screamed as he bended air to push the glue away from hitting Sakura. With his staff, he yelled out a battle cry and shot all the air he could control at Zuko to try to break the ick. Zuko let out another groan when all that happened was he was flipped so he was face first against the bars.

"That helped," he said sarcastically.

"Once again," Aang grunted, "Whose fault is it for PICKING UP THE EGG?" He pointed an accusing finger at Zuko, momentarily dropping his guard.

"Watch out," Sakura yelled, clamping her arms around his waist to tackle him out of the glob's way. Dropping him on top of a large statue, she leaped from stone wall to wall like a monkey, before leaping high in the air to grasp one of the metal bars in her hands. Using raw strength, she clamped down on it, crimpling it into a thin and wrinkled metal bar.

"Nice!" Zuko praised and Sakura felt herself blush at the smirk he was directing at her.

"Stop flirting and break him out of there!" Aang shouted. He was standing on his tip toes at the highest statue before he had to jump up to avoid being hit by the muddy liquid. He grasped the bars with his hands and feet braced against it, but he soon cried out "I can't move! Sakura help!" Sakura moaned in pain when Aang had jumped up and clamped the bar, he accidentally shoving her stomach against the sticky bars which caused her to stick before the muddy liquid rushed up and trapped her permanently in between Zuko and Aang. Sakura spat out of the openings of the bars, screaming, "I can't help either! You slammed me into the bars!"

They were pressed against the bar as the greenish brown slime compressed them against the bars, some of it oozing out around them. Finally, it stopped.

"Okay…" Sakura took in deep breaths, "at least we have air."

"And someone could come by," Aang added optimistically.

Hours past. Night fell. And Sakura fell asleep.

When she woke up, Aang and Zuko were glaring daggers at each other through her.

"You just had to pick up the golden rock," Aang said sarcastically.

Zuko glared at him, mouth pulled in a frown as he protested, "At least I made something happen! If it weren't for me, we never would have made it past the courtyard!"

"HEEEEELP!" Aang cried.

"Who are you yelling for?" Zuko snapped angrily, "No one has been here for centuries!"

"So what do YOU think we should do?" Aang demanded.

"I'd say we stop screaming in Sakura's ears, before she goes DEAF!" Sakura yelled.

The two boys paused.

"We could talk about our place in the universe," Zuko offered.

Sakura huffed.

…

…

…

"And so what am I supposed to do? I mean, Katara and I kissed at the invasion and we've gone through so much together, but I'm not sure about her feelings for me!" Aang cried, sniffling slightly.

"It sounds like she likes you too," Sakura said smartly, "but obviously, Katara is passionate about defeating the Fire Lord, of doing anything in her power to bring justice to the world. You can't say that she doesn't care about you, just because now isn't the right time."

"Sakura, you're so smart!" Aang wailed.

"Who is there?" a deep masculine voice demanded. Gold, chocolate, and emerald eyes darted to this newcomer. He had face painting, with red over his eyes, a bit of a stomach, and a large feathered hat.

"Pretty," Sakura cooed.

…

…

…

The scene changed so Sakura, Aang, and Zuko were sitting in the middle of the supposed deceased Sun Warrior civilization, with large animals resembling dogs licking up the goop off of them with long and thin tongues. It was gross, Sakura whispered to the other boys, but much better than being sticky.

"For trying to take our Sacred Sun Stone, you will be severely punished!" the Chief of the Sun Warriors growled, banging his Sacred Staff against the ground three times. Sakura couldn't take her eyes off of the feathers of his hat.

"Pretty," she whispered again. Zuko elbowed her.

"We didn't mean harm," Zuko answered respectfully, "We need your help to learn the rules of true fire bending."

Another clan member stepped forward, one with a high ponytail and face paint, frowning and claiming, "Do not listen to them! Obviously they are thieves, trying to _steal _our Sacred Belongings!" He held the golden egg in his arms, cradling it like a baby.

Aang smiled smugly, bending his head down for all to get a good look at the blue arrow running down his head, "I don't usually play this card, but I'm … The Avatar."

Sakura winced. The Warriors didn't look too impressed by that.

Aang sensed it too for he added in, "Just hear us out."

He glanced at Zuko. Sighing, the scarred teen introduced himself, "My name is Zuko, crowned prince of the Fire Nation, or at least I used to be."

Pausing, everyone looked at Sakura. Sakura waved awkwardly, saying, "Sakura Haruno. …no title really."

Satisfied, the chief of the Sun Warriors moved their heavy glances to Zuko.

"I know my people have disordered the ways of fire bending by fueling it of fire and rage, but I want to learn it your way. The right way. I was surprised when we found that this civilization was still alive, and I am humbled to be in your presence. So please, teach us. Teach us the true art of fire bending," Zuko said, kneeling and bowing before the Sun Warriors. Aang joined him. For good measures, Sakura duplicated these movements.

Heads snapped towards the chief now.

He stroked his beard thoughtfully, before his eyes narrowed and took up a leader expression. "If you want to learn the ways of the sun," he finally announced, "Then you must learn from the Fire Bending Masters, Ran and Shao.

"When you present yourselves to them, they will examine you. They will read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry." He was focusing his hard stare on each of the trio for each item he listed. Aang flinched under the heavy and intimidating stare of hearts, Sakura kept a cool face under souls, but Zuko was grimacing and looked like he was about to cry when the Chief mentioned his 'past history'. In a pathetic and sad way, it was kind of hilarious.

Continuing, the Chief said in his strong voice, "If they deem you worthy, they'll teach you. If they don't, you will be destroyed on the spot."

Aang and Zuko exchanged shocked grimaces. Sakura softly sighed in relief. She was glad she wasn't a fire bender.

…

…

…

The Sun Civilization dragged them across bridges and past temples and up stairs to finally lead them to a small gazebo with a large fire that continued to lick and spit without faltering. It seemed almost mystical.

"If you are going to see the masters," the Chief announced while the trio and Warriors were gathered around the flame, "Then you must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame. This fire is the very first one that was given to man by the dragons. It has been going for thousands upon thousands of years.

"You will each take a piece of it to the masters, to show your commitment to the Sacred Art of Fire Bending."

"Um… Mr. Sun Chief, Sir, uh… yeah… I'm not a fire bender _yet_," Aang admitted awkwardly.

"Then you better become one and fast," he snipped.

Sakura raised her hand. "I was here just for the adventure. May I sit and watch instead?"

"Yes," he snapped.

"Cool," Sakura remarked casually, plopping down on the tiled floors and watching the Chief bend fire out of the flame. Sakura resisted the urge to squeal when he distributed it into two halves, giving a small flame to Zuko and a small flame to Aang. They balanced it carefully, Zuko's spitting and trying to break free from its hold and Aang's withering as if an unknown force was pressing down on it from all sides.

"This activity practices Sun Warrior's philosophy. Fire bending takes concentration and to maintain a constant heat. Not provide enough energy and the fire will go out. Make it too big and you will lose control," the Chief advised.

Aang shifted his fire back and forth. "It feels… like a little heartbeat. Like it's pumping in my hand. Eh… like a life is literally in my hands."

"Fire bending is life, not just destruction," the Chief said, "Now, your instructions are simple. Walk up the mountain while maintaining your fire. If you can make it to the top and present it to the masters, they will judge you then and there."

While Zuko and Aang started their way over boulders and through wild life, the Chief led Sakura and the others through a hidden tunnel. It led them uphill and about twenty minutes in, Sakura finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. She blinked at the sudden light and looked around. They were now standing on a circular stage on top of the mountain with large drums bordering the stage. Large stairs led from the stage to a large bridge that connected two humongous caves together.

"So, what now?" Sakura asked one of the Sun Warriors.

"We wait," he said as he assumed position. The Warriors gathered around the borders, the Chief posing in the middle with his arms crossed. Sakura settled herself on one of the drums, legs crossed, one arm leaning back and the other extended so she could examine her nails.

Sakura was about to doze off when she heard twigs snapping and the slight pant of the two boys. The duo came into view. Zuko glanced around anxiously before his gaze landed on hers. His lips slightly quirked with affection and Sakura looked away embarrassed.

The Sun Chief cleared his voice loudly and Zuko snapped his attention back to the Chief.

"Right," Zuko laughed awkwardly.

"Before you meet the Fire Bending Masters, I must warn you," the Chief said formally, "Facing the Masters will be very dangerous." Directing his focus on Zuko, he confronted him with "Your ancestors are directly responsible for the dragons' disappearance. The masters will not be happy to see you." Turning to Aang, he continued, "Even though you are the Avatar, it is also your fault for disappearing. It disrupted the balance of the world."

Aang gulped audibly.

The Chief moved to take some fire from Aang and Zuko, passing it onto another Warrior. This one looped the fire into a circle before passing it on to the next. It continued until each Warrior positioned in the circle was bending a fire circle. Sakura was kicked off the drum as another unnamed Warrior started beating on it. Said pinkette noticed her two companions whispering to each other before Zuko nudged Aang forward with his foot. Sakura winced. It looked like that small gesture almost extinguished Aang's small flame.

Said boys trudged up the stairs as soon as the Warriors began beating their drums. Every step Aang and Zuko took made Sakura's stomach lurch. She was nervous for both of them. She knew that the Avatar and a Mastered Fire Bender could take on two Master Fire Benders, especially if she was there to help, but Sakura would have preferred if they could go without a fight. Aang and Zuko finally made it up the stairs.

"Present your fire!"

The distant figures of Zuko and Aang stood back to back, in a low stance with their backs hunched over and palms extended over their heads to present their flames.

"Sound for the Masters!"

A loud and echoed sound of an obnoxious instrument sounded, and instantly everyone could hear the entrances of the two caves Aang and Zuko were facing start to crumble as something pounded on the mountains.

Sakura was standing next to the Chief and his servant to watch Aang and Zuko more closely. She had enhanced vision because of her skills of a ninja and currently she was wincing with pain. Aang, the naïve and innocent and oblivious little boy had dropped his hands. DROPPED HIS HANDS. The fire disappeared quickly after. If that wasn't bad enough, when he noticed that his fire was gone, he started begging Zuko for some of his fire. Aang tackled the taller boy, making Zuko lose his fire as well.

Sakura slapped her forehead and the others grimaced.

The Konoha ninja could almost hear Zuko shouting at Aang in aggravation, arms flailing and body tense. Aang was cowering and shouting back. It wasn't until the two caves finally collapsed and opened and the music changed into an upbeat tune was when Aang and Zuko found enough sense to bow in the same position only without fire in their palms this time.

The next scene was marvelous. Sakura had started to squeal in delight when a red and blue dragon emerged from each cave, circling the two boys. It reminded Sakura of a predator enclosing on its prey, but Sakura couldn't feel any killing intent radiating off of the dragons.

Sakura actually started giggling when Zuko and Aang started performing the same moves as they did in the Temple, if she recalled the 'Dance of the Dragon'. It was truly magnificent, watching Zuko and Aang perform these graceful but powerful moves in harmony with the dragons which moved with fluency and precision.

The dance came to an end, but instead of the dragons about to hit each other head on, they circled the boys again, although this time trapping them in a flame of different colors, ranging from yellow to orange to red to blue to green and even to purple. Sakura herself was awed by it and the Warriors bowed down to this glorious sight. One of the Warriors even pushed her down to the ground as well.

The dragons finished and retreated back into their caves. Zuko and Aang were revealed after the dust settled to be sitting back to back and still looking at the air where the multi colored flames used to be. They got up and slowly marched down the stairs again.

"Zuko! Are you okay?" Sakura questioned, running up to him to meet him halfway down and inspecting him for burns.

Aang waved. "HELLO? What about me?" the bald boy screamed, pushing Sakura in vain. Sakura blinked.

"Um… Aang! Oh my goodness gracious are you okay?" she cried sarcastically, cradling Aang's head in her arms, "My poor baby!"

Aang blushed. Pushing Sakura away, he hid behind Zuko. "Go back to cuddling Zuko," Aang shyly said. Sakura laughed, taking Zuko's wrist and dragging him down the stairs. Once they made it down the stairs, the Chief approached them, a small smile playing on his lips.

"It was amazing," Zuko commented, "all of those different colored fires… It was radiating life, teaching me so much. Sakura was right when she said my drive was gone, and now I have found a new motivation. I want to accomplish my destiny and restore balance to the world again." As if to prove his point, Zuko punched and kicked three times in a row, each time a large burst of fire shooting out of his fists and feet.

Aang nodded, "Up there… I've realized that fire is not destructive, but energy… and life." He kicked out and fire grazed Sakura's forehead.

"Although I've still got to work on my control," Aang sweat dropped as Sakura cut off the singed pieces of her hair.

"Well, you do know that now that you are aware of our civilization, dragons, and teachings, we must imprison you for a lifetime," the Sun Chief said casually. Sakura raised her hand. "Including me?" she asked with big eyes.

"Yes," the Chief confirmed, "including you."

The three kids screamed, ready to bolt before the Chief let out deep chuckles, "Haha, I am only kidding."

The three kids sighed.

"But seriously, don't tell anyone."

…

…

…

Sakura watched the finishing move of Zuko and Aang's fire bending routine. This time, however, fire was bursting from their fists and feet, making the show more fantastic and magical. But when Aang and Zuko waited for replies, Sakura was the only one clapping.

"Great job guys! Now they'll just tap-dance their way to victory over the Fire Lord," Sokka joked.

"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked aggravated, "This is a sacred form from the supposedly wiped out Sun Civilization!"

"Oh yeah," Katara asked sarcastically, "Then what's it called?"

Zuko felt his cheeks burn, "The … Dancing Dragons."

The group started laughing while Zuko frowned. Sakura drifted over to him, brushing her hand against his while whispering, "If it makes any difference… _I _thought you looked amazing."

She left for her room then and Aang, Katara and Sokka were left questioning why Zuko had a goofy grin on his face for the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Wooot! I finally got Chapter 4 up! :D I'm so sorry for taking so long, but I've just been super lazy. I promise though, that I'll have the next chapter up by… next Friday at the latest. So… Please enjoy Chapter Four: Boiling Rock, Part 1and thank you everyone who reviewed in the last chapter!**

**CHAPTER 4**

"No one makes tea like Uncle," Zuko commented, coming around the group with a tray full of tea cups, "but hopefully I've learned a thing or two."

He served it to Haru and Teo first, offering, "Want to hear a tea joke?"

The Duke responded first "Sure!" giddily and everyone agreed shortly after.

"Well," he said hesitantly, "I don't know the entire joke … but the punch line was 'Leaf me alone. I'm bushed.'"

The Duke paused when accepting his tea. It was an awkward silence as the only available sounds were the badgerfrog's croaking. Finally, it was broken by a cute and loud laugh, courtesy of the pink haired Konoha ninja herself.

Everyone shifted their glances to Sakura.

The pinkette paused, stifling her giggles behind the back of her hand. "What?" she giggled again, "I thought it was funny."

The Duke finally accepted his tea and Zuko commented while making his way to Katara and Aang, "It's a lot funnier when my Uncle tells it."

Katara plucked her cup from his hand, pointedly making it obvious that she was not going to even graze his fingers, remarking sassily, "Maybe it's because your Uncle knows the entire joke."

Everyone laughed at this, making Zuko smile slightly. The scarred prince moved to Sakura, offering her a tea cup.

"Thanks for laughing," he whispered in her ear.

"Anything to break that awkward silence," Sakura whispered back, letting her fingers graze his as she accepted her tea cup. The two felt heat rising to their cheeks so Sakura sipped her tea and Zuko made his way to the last member of the team. Emerald eyes glancing behind her shoulder, she saw the sculpted body of Zuko talking to Sokka. Blushing again, Sakura finished her tea cup, placing it in the dirty dishes basket where it was Katara's turn to wash them, and made her way to her room.

Changing into Katara's spare robe, Sakura fastened the blue tie around her waist and untied the headband from her locks. Fussing with her necklace, Sakura frowned while trying to untangle the clips from her hair.

As she struggled with this, a fist rapped against her screen door, and Sakura called out "Come in!" Her favorite fire bender walked in, hands dug in his pockets and eyes glancing off to the side.

"Need some help with that?" he offered. Sakura nodded, blushing and mumbling, "Yes please."

'_I'm getting as bad as Hinata when it comes to blushing now!' _Sakura thought to herself, forcing the heat out of her cheeks.

Zuko's long fingers untangled pink strands from the clip fastening Sakura's necklace together. Pulling out strand after strand, he explained, "I think Sokka's planning to break into the Boiling Rock, an inescapable prison for robbers, criminals, and war prisoners, such as Sokka's father who was arrested during the failed mission on the Day of Black Sun. Of course, Sokka being from the water tribe, he doesn't know about the fire bending prisons. I plan to go with him. Would you like to come?"

"Helping break people out of prison? Consider me in," Sakura said, giving Zuko a smirk over her shoulder. She shuddered when his fingers grazed her neck.

Finally taking out the last strand of Sakura's hair, Zuko unfastened her necklace, reaching around her neck to drop it in her palm. Sakura instinctively leaned back and his hands rested on her hips to keep her balanced. He inhaled her fresh perfume of cherry blossoms and she inhaled his sweet scent of tea and a smell she couldn't identify, but it was purely Zuko.

In sync, the two finally came back to their senses, stepping away from each other swiftly. They faced each other, emerald eyes staring up into golden eyes.

"Sokka's planning to leave at dawn," Zuko said, destroying the mood, "so I'll meet you on top of Appa."

"Okay," Sakura nodded. He turned to leave, taking slow steps out of her room.

"Zuko, wait!" Sakura called out.

Immediately, he turned on his heel, hand resting on her screen door and asking somewhat eagerly, "Yeah?"

Sakura was at his side in an instant, dainty hand resting on his shoulders, on her tip toes to give her extra height, and her soft lips pressed against his pale cheek. She pulled away too soon for Zuko, and with red cheeks and soft voice, she said softly, "Good night."

His own cheeks were burning and he managed in a throaty voice to whisper, "Night…" before the screen door slid closed softly.

Sakura cheered inwardly, diving into her bed to scream in her pillow "YES!"

Zuko was dancing on his way to his room.

Pulling the covers up to her chin, Sakura knew she woke up at 4:00 A.M. anyways so it wouldn't be hard to wake up. Closing her eyes, she drifted to sleep.

Green eyes blinked open when it was still dark outside. Stretching, she pulled her kimono top, shorts, and tied her ninja band like she did when she was 12. With her bangs out of her eyes, she strapped on all of her hidden weapons and scrolls, knowing that she would need more of her advanced items today if she was going to bust someone out of prison. As soon as her boots were on and her bed was made, she stealthily climbed out of her window to land on the tiles below her. Walking across the tile floor without making a single sound or stirring a single piece of dust, she found the boy's dormitories.

Sakura opened three doors, first Aang's, then Haru's, and finally she found an empty bedroom.

'_Hopefully it isn't Sokka's,' _Sakura frowned to herself. Noticing a wooden picture frame on the bedside, she searched the room before deeming it empty and entering cautiously. She swiftly approached the table and her dainty fingers traced the frame carefully. It was Zuko's room.

The picture was of an old man with graying hair. He had long hair, a bun on top of his head, large sideburns that stuck out and a pointed beard. His hand was on a younger Zuko's shoulder. The younger Zuko made Sakura's eyebrows arch. His entire head was shaven except for a high ponytail on the top of his head. His scarred eye was more pronounced with this hair cut and he was wearing a formal armored suit of the Fire Nation. A small, but genuine, smile was playing on his lips in this drawn picture.

Brushing away some stray dirt on the wooden frame, she placed it down carefully again and exited his room.

The pinkette greeted the sleeping Appa with a slight coo and a scratch on the top of his head. She pressed her index finger to her lips and the drowsy bison snored as his response, going back to sleep. Hoisting herself up into Appa's saddle, she sat with her legs extended in front of her next to Zuko who had seen her coming.

"You're not tired, are you?" Zuko asked.

"No, in my old life, I used to get up much earlier than this," Sakura commented.

"It's kind of chilly outside," Zuko casually remarked.

"Uh huh, I kind of wish that I had brought longer pants," Sakura shivered. Zuko wrapped his long and muscular arm around Sakura's petite frame. Taking his other hand in her own, she rubbed the cold hand soothingly.

Their ears twitched in sync, and Sakura dropped Zuko's hand. Not long after, icy blue eyes peered at the duo over the saddle.

"Not up to anything, huh?" Zuko questioned haughtily.

With a muffled shriek, the two tanned hands holding onto the saddle dropped and a loud 'thump' ensured after. Sakura leaned forward to see Sokka in a heap on the ground, slowly picking himself up when Zuko's head joined hers.

"Alright, I'm going to save my dad, happy now?" Sokka snapped.

"I'm never happy," Zuko frowned.

Sokka rolled his eyes, picking up a blue bag he had dropped. "Really? Because you seem pretty happy whenever Sakura's around," to prove his point, Sokka made kissy faces at the two. In response, he was hit over the head with a long boot.

Falling over again, Sokka groaned as a bare foot landed next to his head. Standing up again, Sokka pulled himself up into Appa's saddle.

"It was my fault that my dad got captured. I need to regain my honor and save him. Don't stop me, Zuko, because you have no idea what it's like," Sokka said, grabbing Appa's reins.

"Please," Zuko rolled his one eye, "you think I don't know about regaining honor? I know that feeling. And I will help you."

"Me too!" Sakura's excited chirp joined them and she appeared next to their sides in a flash, pulling her boot on her pale and long leg.

"Why?" Sokka asked.

"Because, I'm the only one who knows about the Boiling Rock. It's the most guarded prison, so how can you expect to save your dad when you know nothing about it? You need me to help guide you, and we need Sakura's skills," Zuko answered for them. When he noticed Sokka about to give a hard jerk on the reins, Zuko added, "And since when do prisons have bison day cares?'

Sokka stiffened, slamming his head against his knees.

Zuko took this as a yes. "We'll take my war balloon," Zuko said. He hopped out from Appa's saddle, Sakura and Sokka following his lead. Scribbling a fast note to Aang and the others, Sakura, Zuko, and Sokka departure into the sky.

Sakura was fascinated by the way Zuko was fire bending the fire to keep the Air Balloon floating. She didn't make any sounds, afraid that she'd annoy the two boys, but her eyes did sparkle and widen every time Zuko controlled the flames.

"So…" Sokka said awkwardly. Sakura shifted her eyes to him, and lifted her arm. She shrugged. "The clouds are fluffy today."

"Yeah," Zuko continued, scratching the back of his head nervously, "fluffy… and wet."

He fire bended to fill in the silence. Sakura sure wasn't complaining, but she could actually feel the tension in the air.

'_Boys… in Konoha they just talk about ninja stuff and they can't shut up,' _Sakura sighed, _'You can never understand them.' _

_S_okka was fidgeting in his seat, determined to say something. He cleared his throat and said, "So one of my friends actually designed these war balloons. …yup… a balloon, but made for war."

Zuko's gold eyes dimmed as he put down his hand to answer them quietly, "If it's something my dad's good at, it's war."

"Yeah," Sokka snorted, "it sort of runs in the family."

Sakura winced. Zuko spun on his heel, facing Sokka angrily, "Hey! That's not true!"

"I know, I know," Sokka brushed off, "You've changed."

"I wasn't talking about myself," Zuko replied haughtily, "I was talking about my Uncle." He bended the fire once before replied in an uplifting, praising, and soft voice, "He was more of a father to me… and I really let him down."

'_Was that man in the picture his Uncle?' _Sakura asked herself. She kept quiet, knowing that this was Zuko and Sokka's breakthrough with each other.

Sokka extended his arms, one resting lightly behind Sakura. It was a friendly gesture, "I'm sure," Sokka continued, "that your Uncle would be really proud of you. I mean… leaving behind the Fire Nation to help us out."

"It wasn't that hard," Zuko spat. He sounded furious at the Fire Nation and jealous for some reason.

"Well, didn't you leave anyone behind?" Sokka asked, removing his arm to cradle his head in his hands.

"…well there was this one girl. Mai," Zuko confessed.

Sakura compressed her lips, angrily picking at her top.

"That gloomy girl? Who's always sighing?" Sokka asked, a large smile on his lips.

"Yeah. When I left, I was considered a traitor. I couldn't drag her into it," Zuko said.

"It sounds like you really care about her," Sakura said softly.

Zuko lifted his eyes to her, saying, "Yeah… She was one of the few people I actually cared about."

"I know what you mean, man," Sokka sighed, "My first girlfriend turned into the moon."

Zuko winced, "That's tough man."

Blue and yellow eyes shifted to Sakura. She was picking at the hem of her sleeves and feeling their gazes on her, she replied quietly, "In the ninja world, there are very few relationships. I've always been passionate about love, but I could never commit myself because you may be happily in love one day, but then your lover would be killed on a mission the next. It was too hard when you know those possibilities." Rubbing her arm now, she smiled at Zuko and Sokka, "But being in this new world, it's amazing. I don't have to worry about anyone assassinating me in the middle of the night; I can express myself and not worry about being better than others to survive. I can live in this world. And if I stay, I'd like to pursue love."

Zuko paused. She was so passionate, so genuine, and so lovely. When they defeated the Fire Lord, he would like to pursue love as well.

Sokka had tears streaming down his eyes, sniffling and wiping snot on his shirt.

"That was so beautiful," he whispered. Sakura offered him a handkerchief and they continued the ride in a comfortable silence.

…

…

…

Sokka was dozing on Sakura's shoulder, Zuko controlling the fire and occasionally shifting his gaze to them only to look away swiftly and jealously until finally they approached a large volcano.

"Sokka," Sakura shook the Water Tribe Warrior awake, "We're here." He was up in a flash, hand twitching to grab his sword before he joined the pinkette's side by Zuko to look at the volcano. Slowly they approached it, Zuko instructing them, "There's plenty of steam to keep us covered. As long as we stay quiet, we should be able to maneuver into it successfully."

The fire bender sparked the flames to make the War Balloon rise and float over the volcano edge. Sakura fanned herself with her hand, slightly sweating from the boiling water surrounding the prison.

"Wait, Zuko, if the air is heated from the boiling lake then wouldn't the air outside the balloon be just as hot as the air keeping it up which will lead the balloon to SINKING!" Sakura whisper screamed. Just like Sakura said, the balloon started to sink and skid across the boiling lake. Zuko, Sokka and Sakura clamped down on their hands to muffle their screams. The boat crashed against the island, throwing the trio out of the war balloon. Sakura rolled three times before crashing into a muscular body, hands resting on her shoulders to steady her. Looking up, she smiled at her savior. Zuko smirked back, helping her up as Sokka pushed the wrecked war balloon into the depths of the boiling water.

"What're you doing?" Zuko whispered.

"Sinking the ship. We don't need anyone knowing we're here and it didn't work anymore anyways," Sokka whispered back, watching the cloth of the balloon sink.

…

…

…

Scanning the long metal halls and ceilings, Sakura nodded, signaling Zuko and Sokka forward. The two boys clamored into a supply closet, two minutes later exiting in the Boiling Rock Prison Guard uniforms. They nodded to her and she climbed into the closet, searching through the drawers to find a women's uniform.

Finding one in a petite small, she slipped the underclothes on and then the armor on after. Performing a quick genjutsu, she changed her hair to black, pinning it up in a messy bun and putting the helmet on after.

Slipping out the closet, she and the other two boys walked down the halls as casually as they could.

"I have to admit, you still look stunning with black hair," Zuko whispered, "but I still prefer your pink."

Grinning cheekily, Sakura strut down the halls. She noticed a large cluster of guards running down the hall in front of them, so Sakura took Zuko's wrist and jogged up to the others.

"What's going on?" she asked curiously.

A gruff guard answered, "There's a scuffle in the courtyard. All guards have been called out."

The three posing guards chased after everyone, ending up lined in a circle around a guard with a mustache and beard and a large and buff prisoner with a buzz cut.

"I've had enough of your attitude, Chit Sang," the guard growled, whipping Chit Sang's feet with a fire whip. Zuko covered Sakura's mouth with his gloved hand to keep her from squealing. Sakura frowned and removed his hand. She only squealed when bending was used for good purposes. Not for intimidating prisoners unfairly.

"What'd I do?" Chit Sang growled back.

"Hah! He doesn't know what he did!" the guard laughed mockingly. Elbowing Sokka in the ribs, he chuckled, "Isn't that cute?"

"Heh, so cute," Zuko laughed awkwardly.

"Like fluffy bunnies cute," Sokka blurted out.

Sakura slapped him over his helmeted head. Jabbing Sokka with her thumb, she said harshly to the guard, "Don't mind the newbie. I'll be sure to break him in. Just deal with that prisoner already."

The guard smirked cruelly at Sakura, dropping his suspicion of the two other boys. Turning to Chit Sang, he shouted, "You didn't bow when I walked by!"

"Good acting skills," Zuko murmured to Sakura.

"I know," said girl shrugged.

"What?" Chit Sang asked outraged, "That's not a prison rule!"

"Just do it," the guard hissed.

"Make me," Chit Sang growled intimidating, drawing himself to his full height and towering over the guard. The guard slowly stepped back and Chit Sang walked off. With a malicious smirk, the guard fire bended a large whip of fire towards Chit Sang. Chit Sang bended the fire into a large ball before sending it flying back towards the guard. The guard kicked it and it evaporated, before he 'tsked' lightly and laughed, "Fire bending is prohibited. Go to the cooler."

"You!" the guard shouted, pointing at the newly brunette Sakura, "Help me put him in."

Sakura nodded, whispering to her boys, "Meet back here in an hour."

She took out her handcuffs, cuffed Chit Sang's hands together, and she and the facial haired guard walked the buff man to the 'cooler'. The guard led Sakura down the halls, Sakura making sure that she didn't make it obvious that she was memorizing the building layout.

The guard let go of Chit Sang and unlocked the door to the cooler. It was a metal room which filtered in ice cold air. Sakura could feel herself shiver from just having a slight breeze blown on her and couldn't help but frown in pity when Chit Sang was harshly thrown in there.

"The warden will deal with you later," the guard snarled. Chit Sang glared at him the entire time Sakura was pulling the door closed and then locking it.

"Prisoners, huh?" Sakura smirked, giving the metal door a good kick for emphasis.

"Tell me about it," the guard snorted.

Sakura peered through the bars of the cooler, frowning and carefully observing every single blemish and area of the cooler.

"Look alive, it's the warden," the guard quickly commanded. Sakura stood up straight, facing the warden, chin held high and posture respectful.

The Warden barely acknowledged her or the other guard, opening the cooler to look down at Chit Sang.

"So Chit Sang, I heard you used fire bending to try to escape. You should know better," the Warden scolded in a monotonous voice.

"I… I wasn't t…trying to escape," Chit Sang stuttered.

"Liar! I saw it with my own eyes," the guard hissed.

"No one has escaped from the Boiling Rock. I'd sooner jump into the boiling pit myself before I let that record fall. Don't forget it," the Warden stated. He nodded towards Sakura and she quickly locked the door back up again.

The Warden left and Sakura quickly fled down the hall.

…

…

…

Sakura found her way on top of a bridge which looked over the courtyard where the prisoners were getting their fresh air. She noticed Zuko immediately, nudging him with her elbow as she leaned against him.

"Oh um… hello," he said awkwardly, posture going tense.

"What?" Sakura asked, clearly offended.

"Well… are all prison guards this intimate?" the boy asked.

"Um…" Sakura paused, looking through his eyeholes of the helmet. Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, you aren't… aren't… Lee!" she blurt out. The guard she had been leaning on was young, about the same age as Zuko, with the same pale complexion. The man rubbed the back of his helmet awkwardly, and Sakura quickly bowed her forgiveness and scrambled away.

"Nice mix up," a deep chuckle sounded next to her. Sakura whipped her head around to see the real Zuko smirking at her, trying to stifle in his chuckles with no success.

"Aw man, you should have seen the look on your face," he finally burst out into laughter again, holding his stomach as his chest heaved with mighty laughter.

Sakura turned red immediately, snapping her head to the side only to give herself whiplash.

"Shuttup," she mumbled, burying her head in her arms as his throaty chuckles continued on.

…

…

…

Sakura and Zuko were standing next to each other, ten minutes after Zuko stopped laughing at Sakura's mix up. Sakura was still too embarrassed to talk to him, especially because she had been so cozy with the person she thought was him, and he didn't want to say anything in risk that someone would find out that he was the banished prince and she just wasn't a prison guard.

"Hey… fellow guards," a new guard approached them hesitantly.

"Hey," the duo greeted Sokka.

"Have you found out anything?" Sokka whispered to the two of them.

"I asked around the lounge," Zuko whispered back, "the other guards say that there aren't any Water Prisoners around here…"

"Are you sure?" Sokka asked with fear, "You doubled checked and everything?"

"Yeah," Zuko replied quietly.

"Eh! No!" Sokka cried in a throaty voice, banging his hands against the railing bar.

"I'm really sorry, Sokka," Zuko said and Sakura put a hand on the blue eyed boy's shoulder.

"Are you saying we came all the way here for nothing?" Sokka demanded, never moving from his spot. He held his forehead with his hand, sighing, "I failed… again."

Sakura rubbed comforting circles into his back as Zuko thought aloud, "Oh… what would Uncle say?" Gold eyes darting around, Sakura pointed up to the clouds with her other hand. Zuko nodded, continuing, "…sometimes clouds have two sides, a dark and light and a silver lining in between. Like a silver sandwich! So when life gets hard… take a bite from the silver sandwich!" He looked expectantly to Sakura, who slapped her forehead in response. Sokka removed his hand, turning his head to the side to look at the courtyard.

Blue eyes widened and tan hands gripped the rail bars, a large smile planting itself on Sokka's face, "Maybe we haven't failed after all!"

Sakura and Zuko glanced at each other with shock.

"Wow… I can't believe that worked!" Zuko said thoughtfully, "I had no idea what I was saying."

"No, you didn't," Sakura murmured. She hated being wrong.

"No, what you said made no sense whatsoever," Sokka brushed off and Sakura smiled cheekily at Zuko, "but look! It's SUKI!" Sakura and Zuko glanced at each other, the same question in their eyes. Sakura, however, paused when Sokka's eyes turned into blinking hearts and a love song turned on in the background. Before Sakura could say anything, Sokka was gone in a flash, taking the love music with him.

"Weeeeeird," Sakura and Zuko murmured to each other, smiling because weird was becoming a tradition in their adventures.

"Let's follow him," Sakura told Zuko, "He may need our help."

The two jogged down the corridors, following the distant tune of Sokka's love music still floating around for Sakura to notice a brown ponytail entering one of the prison rooms.

"There, the third one down from the end," Sakura instructed as the two sped up their pace.

"Are you sure it was him? Because I'm having a hard time trusting you today after your mix up," Zuko chuckled to himself. In reply, Sakura jabbed him in the side, making him squeal and fall over. It was Sakura's turn to laugh.

"Come on," Sakura giggled, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. Sakura and Zuko passed by Suki's cell, Zuko deciding to watch guard while Sakura would stand down about five doors down.

Sakura's eyes narrowed under her helmet mask when another guard, a _woman_ about 17with long brown hair and a pretty face.

'_I'm just suspicious,' _Sakura told herself.

'**Suuure…' **Inner replied sarcastically.

"Excuse me," the lady said in a raspy voice, "but I need to check up on the prisoner."

The lady moved to grab the door handle, before Zuko took her arm and slammed her against the metal door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the lady guard demanded, wrestling with Zuko. She noticed Sakura standing down the hall, running up to them.

"Help me!" the guard yelled and Sakura ripped Zuko off of her, tackling him to the ground and cuffing his hands together in all one smooth motion.

"As much as that hurt, it was pretty impressive," Zuko said gruffly to her.

"Sorry, but I have a plan," Sakura murmured to him.

"You go talk to the Warden about this, I'll take him to a prison cell to make sure he's locked up," Sakura instructed strictly. The lady saluted to Sakura and the ninja nodded back, one arm holding Zuko's linked wrists and the other gently pressing down on his back.

"I honestly think you would make an amazing prison guard," Zuko said quietly as they moved past other guards and prisoners.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Sakura asked, hand on his back rubbing gentle circles.

"No, just took me by surprise," Zuko reassured.

"Others are coming," Sakura whispered, "but I have a plan to get us all off this island. Wait and I'll tell you, Suki, and Sokka all at once."

Zuko nodded and he was switched over to a more experienced guard.

"I'll take him to the cells; you go down with Adelia to find the Warden. I think she was injured when this one turned against her," the male guard told Sakura. Sakura bowed to him and chased after the limping female guard.

She wrapped Adelia's arm around her shoulder, supporting her before dropping her off in the medical ward. It was by pure luck that she ran into the Warden on her way out.

"Warden sir, there is a false guard being held in the special prison cells," Sakura bowed lowly to the Warden.

"Very well, accompany me there," the Warden demanded. Sakura bowed once more, gesturing him to follow. She led him down the halls, finally coming to the one room where the male guard told her where he'd keep Zuko.

"In this room," Sakura announced. She stepped back and allowed the Warden to enter first.

"Well, well, well," the Warden chided after one look at Zuko, "I never thought I'd find you here, …Prince Zuko."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, "How do you know who I am?'

"How could I not know the boy who broke my beloved niece's heart?" the Warden grunted."

"I didn't mean to," Zuko said quickly, "I ne-"

"Enough," the Warden said, "You're my special prisoner now. And you'd better behave. If the other prisoners found out you were the traitor prince who let his nation down, they'd tear you to shreds."

"So why don't you just send for my father and have him collect me for a reward?" Zuko demanded.

"Oh I will, in due time," the Warden smirked. He turned to Sakura, the one guard present, "You take him out to clean the lower deck." Sakura nodded. The Warden left and Sakura and Zuko glanced at each other.

"Come on, Sokka and Suki will be on the lower deck too," Sakura whispered to him.

…

…

…

Sakura and Zuko arrived downstairs, and true to her word, Sokka was watching Suki wipe up the floor of the ship. Zuko joined her and Sokka made quick with the introductions.

"Suki, Zuko. Zuko, Suki," Sokka quickly introduced.

"Oh, we've already met," Suki said in a slightly scornful voice.

"We have?" Zuko asked curiously.

"Yeah… you kind of burned down my village," Suki said very casually. Sokka slapped his forehead in the background and Sakura was quietly laughing from the casual way Suki said it.

"Oh, well sorry… Nice to see you again," Zuko said.

Sokka quickly pushed Zuko to the side, bringing in the other female instead.

"Suki, Sakura. Sakura, Suki," Sokka said.

"Nice to meet you," the two girls shook hands, "I don't remember your face."

"Oh I just joined the group recently," Sakura said.

"You a bender?" Suki asked as she started mopping the floors again to avoid suspicion and Zuko joined her.

"No, I'm a ninja. …it's a long story," Sakura added in at the curious glance Suki was sending her.

"Once we escape, I'll explain even though I'm still pretty lost," Sokka told her and Suki cracked a smile.

Ushering the three others behind a large set of stairs, Sakura glanced around to make sure no one was listening in and whispered, "I was inspecting the coolers and I realized, the coolers are completely insulated to keep the cold air in. To keep the cold air in, it also keeps the heat out! It can be used as the perfect boat to get through the boiling water."

Zuko, Sokka and Suki shared confused glances, Zuko asking, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I was walking around the perimeter of the building when I noticed the perfect blind spot between two guard spots to launch off. The current is strong enough to carry us across the lake," Sakura continued.

"But how would you get the cooler out?" Suki questioned.

"Yeah, how would you get the cooler out?" a new and familiar masculine voice asked from over the stairs. Four heads snapped up and winced when they saw Chit Sang leaning over, ears twitching.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Zuko replied shortly.

"Don't even try it," Chit Sang rolled his eyes, "I heard you hatching that plan."

"Hatching a plan? Psh… the only thing we're hatching… is an egg," Sokka blurted out again.

"Really Sokka, from now on, leave the talking to me," Sakura scowled.

"Well, I want in," Chit Sang remarked as he swung his large body over the stairs to land next to Zuko and Suki, "or else the Warden will hear about this …egg."

Sakura answered for the four of them, replying, "Sure."

Taking out a wrench from her back pocket, she passed it to Zuko, saying, "We'll get Zuko in there. You told me that you can perform the Dragon's Breath right?" At Zuko's nod, she continued on, "So then you use the Dragon's Breath to not only keep you warm but to melt the ice around the screws so you can successfully unscrew them. Collect them all in your back pocket, and Sokka will come to collect you when you're done while I get Chit Sang and Suki out."

Zuko nodded.

"I know how to get you in the cooler," Chit Sang told Zuko. Sakura and Sokka retreated from behind the stairs, and Suki and Zuko left a few minutes later.

Pretending to keep a watchful eye on all of the prisoners, Sakura kept her hands on her hips as she scowled at a buff prisoner. She inconspicuously glanced over her shoulder, smirking with relief when Zuko 'accidentally' nudged Chit Sang with the butt of his mop.

'**Heh… butt…'**

'_Shut up.' _

"Watch where you're going!" Chit Sang yelled as he pushed Zuko over. Zuko jumped back up onto his feet, the two wrestling for the higher ground. Of course with Chit Sang's height and weight, he quickly won, pushing Zuko over again for the banished prince to roll over on the steel tiles of the boat.

Zuko scowled, hopping back onto his feet before sending a large ball of fire towards Chit Sang. The latter ducked and the fire ball slammed into the back wall.

"No fire bending!" Sakura shouted, tackling Zuko to the ground again and cuffing his wrists together.

"Ugh, this is what… the second time," Zuko groaned.

Sakura stifled her smile and instead walked him to the cooler. She threw him into the cooler, acting like she was walking away only to glance back through the jail bars. He had already started working on the screws.

"You have an hour," Sakura instructed him, racing off to find Sokka.

She found him outside the cafeteria and she mouthed _'one hour' _before moving on to find Suki and Chit Sang's prison cells. Sakura found Chit Sang first, checking the area before opening his door.

"Wait," he whispered, "we're also taking my girl and my best friend." Sakura rolled her eyes and he directed her down hallways. She unlocked the door for a perky and pretty girl to squeal "Chit Sang!" only for her mouth to be gagged by a gold ribbon, courtesy of Sakura, and to another cell where she let out a gloomy looking brunette.

It was by pure luck that Suki's cell was right next to the brunette's. Sakura stuffed Chit Sang, his girlfriend, and his friend back into the cell, closing the door and working on Suki's. She had managed to open the cell door before they were caught.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Sakura stiffened, turning slowly and facing Adelia again.

"Adelia, back so soon?" Sakura asked as casually as she could.

"Yeah, the Warden only gave me half an hour to rest," Adelia frowned. She peered behind Sakura's shoulder to see Suki's door half open and he light haired girl to stare back.

"What are you doing?" Adelia asked again.

"Oh, this one decided she'd smart mouth me, so I'm going to teach her a lesson," Sakura scoffed.

"Heh, nice. Make sure the Warden doesn't catch you. Just keep the wounds shallow," Adelia winked at Sakura and went off down the hallway.

Waiting ten seconds for her heart to stop pounding in her ears, Sakura and Suki sighed simultaneously before the pinkette opened Suki's door and got Chit Sang and his group out.

"Let's go before we run into any more guards," Sakura said and the group picked up their pace. Luck was on their side again when Sakura was able to escort all four prisoners out of the building and onto the island, climbing over rocky hills to reach the blind spot.

"Okay, Zuko and Sokka should arrive here in ten," Sakura whispered, "Keep quiet and we should be good. I overheard the guard's saying that the check up wouldn't be for another two hours."

"Wait, but why do we have to be quiet? It's sooooo boring," Chit Sang's girlfriend wailed dramatically.

"Shut up," Sakura hissed, "unless you want the Warden to find out we're here."

"That's a bad thing, ri-" Suki gagged her again with Sakura's gold ribbon.

"Hey, don't do that to my girl," Chit Sang demanded.

"If you want to be caught, then go ahead and let 'your girl' to keep shouting," Sakura whispered yelled. The big man towered over the pinkette, but the scorching glare Sakura was sending him made him back down.

"Come on Honey," Chit Sang cooed, "we've gotta be quiet or else we'll be caught. And we don't want to be caught."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" the muffled voice whispered. Chit Sang nodded in approval.

'_Hurry up Zuko,' _Sakura plead in her mind.

After seventeen games of 'water, fire, earth' with Suki, the two girls finally sighed in relief when Sokka and Zuko came into view, rolling the cooler down the rocky mountains. The two girls climbed up the hill to help them. Sakura flipped the cooler over so it was face up like a boat, and balanced it against a rock.

"Are you sure you want to do this? After all there is a chance of rescuing your dad," Zuko whispered to Sokka.

"Wait your dad," Suki questioned.

"I'm not going to risk our freedom just for this slim chance!" Sokka argued.

"Listen, you're going to fail a lot before things work out," Zuko said.

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Sokka scowled.

"Even though you'll fail over and over and over again," Zuko continued.

"Seriously, not helping!"

"You have to try every time. You can't quit because you might fail," Zuko finished.

Sokka paused, fingers twitching and face going blank.

"Listen, are you two finished cuddling so we can get a move on?" Chit Sang demanded.

"No, you guys go," Sokka instructed, giving Sakura her change of clothes and ushering Suki towards the boat, "There's no way you can get off the island without Sakura, and Suki, you've been here long enough." He gently pecked the Kyoshi warrior's cheek before ushering her towards the boat again.

"No, I'm not leaving without you. Not after I just got you back," Suki smiled as she took Sokka's hand reassuringly.

"And besides, you guys need me way more than Chit Sang and his group. I have another plan to get off the island anyways," Sakura shrugged.

"We'll need it," Zuko nodded.

"Well, since none of you are coming… Later babies," Chit Sang shrugged as he pushed the boat off the island and swung his large frame into it.

…

…

…

Sakura and the others were running along a stray path on the side of the mountain which led to a flight of stairs they could use to get back into the jail.

"Just about another 100 feet and we'll reach the stairs," Sakura whispered back to the group. They all nodded in response and Sakura picked up her pace to a faster jog to reach the stairs before the new prisoners came, Zuko at her heels and the couple trailing after him. Sokka explained to her and Suki that a new gondola of thieves, criminals, and war prisoners would arrive in less than ten minutes. The two girls agreed that it was smart that the group was staying, because there was a high chance that Sokka's dad would be part of the prison group.

"AHHHHH!"

The sudden scream caused Zuko to lose his balance, feet skidding on the thin path. His feet got caught on a stray rock, causing him to topple over and start falling towards the boiling water. Clenching his eyes shut, he waved his arms out to grab anything to keep him from falling to his death, or a very painful experience. A sudden jerk on his wrist caused him to open his eyes slowly.

Sakura was defying gravity, feet locked onto the side of the mountain as she held his wrist to keep him dangling in mid air. It looked like when she was climbing that tree, Zuko sighed in relief. Suki gasped in awe and Sokka's eyes were wide.

"Careful," Sakura smirked, heaving all 120 pounds of Zuko up onto the path again. She walked up the mountain side again, landing in front of the group.

"What happened?" Sokka asked as a range of shouting and bells started ringing.

"My guess, Chit Sang got caught," Sakura whispered back.

"Let's make it up the stairs; the gondola's here!" Suki yelled and the four quickened their pace. Racing up the stairs by two, Sokka pushed past Sakura and Zuko grasped her waist to steady her.

"Thanks," Sakura sighed.

"Safe to say the favor's returned," Zuko smirked.

"Please, I could have rescued myself," Sakura rolled her eyes. Zuko chuckled before it got caught in his throat as Sakura pecked his cheek.

"Thanks," she murmured before following Suki and Sokka.

Doe-eyed, Zuko followed them.

They reached the top of the platform when the gondola arrived, prisoners already being ushered out.

"Is that your dad?" Zuko whispered when a large man with a giant nose ring stepped out of the gondola, scowling at the guards.

"My dad doesn't have a nose ring," Sokka scowled back at Zuko.

Prisoner after prisoner walked by, some bald, some tattooed, and some with rippling muscles. Sakura saw no resemblance between any of these prisoners or Sokka. The last prisoner, a man with a long black braid and tattoos running up and down his arm exited the gondola.

"That's it?" Sokka asked exasperated. Sakura held his shoulder as Suki held his hand reassuringly.

"Hey, you! Get off the gondola."

A man who looked like he was in his mid forties stepped off the gondola, dusty red shoes pattering softly against the metal gondola, baggy red pants swaying in the wind, and red T-shirt clinging onto him like a second skin. He had brown, neck length hair with a small ponytail on the top of his head and two braids with Water Tribe beads braided into the bottom hanging on the side of his face. His jaw clenched and the movement caused his beard to bristle slightly.

"Dad."

**Okay, so I hope you all know who said "Dad" at the end. Mmm… I have nothing to say except for can't wait to see all of you next chapter! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Alright, I feel like I was in such a rush to update chapter four that I completely forgot to thank my reviewers. I always love when I get a special shout out when I review, and so I am so sorry to everyone who left me amazing reviews and I forgot to thank them. I think that this was the reason that I got so little reviews for chapter 4 compared to the others so to fix my mistake… **

**From those who reviewed Chapter 3: **

**Thank you so much to: **

**Hazeljv ~You gotta love some good old ZukoSaku moments~**

**Maidsama4real – Don't worry, I won't give up on this story!**

**Xladykittyx – Thank you so much for your review. To know that someone thinks that I have Sakura in character (because honestly, I don't know if I should portray her as strong yet soft or rough and unbreakable), it really does mean a lot. **

**Vanillasalt – Haha, first of all I love your username and thank you!**

**Yuchi1994 – Sorry it took me so long to update :P**

**Zuko's Broken Bond – Thank you so much! I liked your review, short, simple, to the point, yet it made my heart warm **

**Taraha222 – Awww… I'm glad you enjoy it! Don't worry, even if it takes months for me to update (which hopefully it won't) I'll still continue to write. **

**Myfavoriteloser – My friend called herself "the coolest loser you'll ever meet". I think you two would get along :D And I agree, love sick Zuko is hilarious. **

**Icecream Skittles Addict – Sorry it took so long to update… but thanks for popping in a review!**

**Nice Guy 13 – You hit the bulls eye! I couldn't have Sakura in this fic without her doing something productive… Thank you for leaving a nice review **

**Gozieson – Hah, I'm happy that you think so! Chapter 5 in less than a week? This HAS to be a record for me!**

**Anime Freak456 – Thank you soooo much for your review! Instantly, when I got this review in my email, I saved it and I still have it! I'm sorry I didn't message you, but here I am answering your questions! Yes, I am going to just keep the original Avatar episodes and then just add in my own little twist of what I think would happen if Sakura was there. Um… I think I do have something planned for Sakura thinking about the other ninjas, but I actually don't really know how to correspond the Rookie (12 minus Sasuke and Sakura…) 10 into a different segment to get Sakura back, so if you could help me… It would be much appreciated. I cannot tell you how happy your review made me and your review actually inspired some ideas for me. So thank you!**

**SweetAngels123 – Awww… Your username is exactly right, you are really sweet! Thank you for the review, and I hope you didn't hurt your voice squealing (;**

**Musicmiss18 – Thank you so much! I'm trying to keep Sakura in character and I think it's great that you like the way I'm portraying her!**

**KIBAshinoKAKASHIneji – I hope Chapter 5 was okay!**

**Siren – Thank you, it's great to hear feedback like that, and it's great to hear that you think so!**

**BerryBerry-Chan – Haha, yeah… I've always been in love with ZukoSaku, but when I couldn't find enough stories about them, I finally decided "Okay, I've been on break long enough! It's time to get cracking again!" **

**AngelReira23: Avatar the Last Airbender was such an amazing show… It's so sad they don't show it on Nick anymore T_T I completely agree with you. Zuko was my all time favorite character, just because he was hot, serious, but he got himself in the worst situations!**

**XxxsennaxxX – Thank you so much! Sorry it took so long to update!**

**Tadara – So do you still love me even though it took me so long to update? I hope you still do!**

**Tyuu Jaganshi – Haha, I hope that this Azula vs Sakura match is good enough for you! I am not good at writing action scenes, but I tried to keep everyone in character… **

**Fool For Foolishness – I'm so glad you think so! Thank you for leaving a nice review!**

**Random Creeper: LOL, I love your username. …as long as it's not true. But thank you! Internet high five to you too and thank you for saying that my story is good! **

**And I'm sorry that I didn't thank you all during Chapter 4, it didn't cross my mind at the moment. I was just so happy that I finally sat down and finished it, that I forgot to thank you all appropriately. So… To my Chapter 4 reviewers…**

**Jjdjd – Thank you for the review! **

**Black Autumn Rose – Aww, thank you so much! I hope that Chapter 5 is okay!**

**Hazeljv – Thank you so much, you've got to love the ZukoSaku fluff!**

**Teenage Crisis – Haha, sorry bout the wait… But be happy! I got this chapter up in less than a week!**

**Sakura19Haruno95 – I'm glad you got the 'plot twist' at the end of the chapter (; **

**Yuchi1994 – Woot! One day after your review… Oh yeah!**

**Alright, so everyone, thank you so much for those reviews! And now… Enjoy Chapter 5!**

_Previously… _

_A man who looked like he was in his mid forties stepped off the gondola, dusty red shoes pattering softly against the metal gondola, baggy red pants swaying in the wind, and red T-shirt clinging onto him like a second skin. He had brown, neck length hair with a small ponytail on the top of his head and two braids with Water Tribe beads braided into the bottom hanging on the side of his face. His jaw clenched and the movement caused his beard to bristle slightly. _

"_Dad." _

Sokka raced off to stand with the other guards. Glancing over her shoulder, Sakura urged Suki and Zuko to stay in the blind spot while she went to help Sokka. Using her feminine charms and rude shoving skills, she pushed past bulky guards to stand in front with Sokka. This made her stand across from Hakoda, and she studied him carefully.

Sakura could see the resemblance he shared with Katara and Sokka, the tan skin, dark brown hair, and sparkling blue eyes that were very recognizable. He was as stubborn as Katara, already defiant as he refused to stare straight ahead but settled for glaring at the ground.

The Warden passed by each prisoner, glaring them down as he said ominously, "Welcome to the Boiling Rock. I'm sure you've all heard about the horrible rumors. I want to tell you that they don't all have to be true, as long as you do everything I say." Finally reaching the end of the line to see Hakoda staring at the ground, the Warden snarled, "Look me in the eyes."

Hakoda diverted his eyes even more, bending his head low.

"No."

The Warden's nostrils flared. His left leg kicked out to wrap around Hakoda's back and slam him into the concrete tiles, forcing him to kneel as the Warden shouted, "If you'd rather look at my shoes, then get a closer look!"

"Now look me in the eyes," the Warden chided like a mother.

Hakoda reluctantly raised his head so his piercing blue eyes met the Warden's. The Warden smirked, turning on his heel as he took a step forward. Hakoda jerked his wrist up, successfully tripping the Warden over his manacles.

Sakura slapped her hand over Sokka's mouth to stifle his laughs. She could feel her own lips quirk up however.

"Get them out of my sight."

The line of prisoners was escorted into their new prison cells and Sakura and Sokka waited around until the last guard left.

"I'll take Suki and Zuko back to their cells to avoid suspicion. I'll meet you outside of your father's room in ten and discuss the runaway plans with you," Sakura whispered to Sokka.

Sokka nodded and rushed off to find his dad. Glancing around to make sure there were no more guards around, Sakura cuffed Zuko and Suki's wrists, escorting them to their cells again. Suki was put in her cell first, with a promise that Sakura would be back in less than an hour and delivered Zuko to his cell.

"I'll be back before you know it," Sakura reassured him.

Zuko reached out and stroked her cheeks with the back of his hand.

"Be safe," Zuko murmured. He took her hand in his and brushed his pale lips against the back and then turned it over to place a soft and tickling kiss in her palm.

"Don't worry," Sakura squeezed his hand gently, "I'm a ninja. I know all about being safe."

Rubbing circles into his hand with her thumb, she repeated his actions, bringing his hand up to kiss the back before turning it over and kissing his palm gently. Her ears twitched when she heard another guard stalking towards them.

"See you soon," Sakura said quickly before locking his door and rushing off to find Sokka. After questioning a few guards, they told her that Hakoda's cell was on the third story, all the way down the hall on the left. Scanning her surroundings, Sakura performed a few hand signs to cast a genjutsu around the area. It made the halls look empty even though Sakura was waiting outside of Hakoda's cell.

Sakura mentally slapped herself, wondering why she didn't perform a genjutsu in the first place.

"Sokka, it's me," Sakura said, opening Hakoda's door and sliding in.

"What if another guard comes in?" Sokka asked worriedly.

"Oh, don't worry. I cast a genjutsu around the area," Sakura answered carelessly back.

Sokka cocked his head to the side. Sakura sweat dropped.

"I'll tell you later," Sakura brushed off.

"So Sokka, who's your lady friend?" Hakoda asked suggestively, taking Sakura's hand and shaking it warmly.

"Oh that's Sakura. She's from an alternative universe," Sokka answered. Hakoda placed the back of his hand on Sokka's forehead, feeling his temperature.

"No, true story actually. I'll tell you when we have more time," Sakura answered.

"Right, we were just discussing the escape plan," Sokka whispered to Sakura.

"Have you guys come up with anything?" Sakura asked them. Hakoda and Sokka glanced at each other before sighing in defeat. "Not yet," Sokka whispered back, "but we're still thinking."

"Think no longer, my good friends," Sakura said in a British accent, "because I have the perfect plan." Leaning in closer, she explained, "It's simple. We cause a distraction, and while the guards are overwhelmed with that, we take a hostage on a gondola off the island so the guards can't cut the line."

Sokka and Hakoda exchanged glances and Hakoda piped in, "Won't the Warden just cut the line?"

Sakura smirked so maliciously that it left Hakoda and Sokka quivering and a cold chill passed down their spines. "Nope," Sakura said childishly, popping her 'p' loudly, "because the Warden will _be _The Hostage."

…

…

…

"You get all of the prisoners out of their cells and into the prison grounds and start a riot. I'll go find Zuko," Sakura told Sokka as she quickly held her right index and middle finger up and wrapped her left hand around it. She whispered, "Kai!" and the scenery wavered before it revealed three guards walking away.

"Hey, you! The Warden wants to see you," one of the guards called out. Sokka turned to share a glance with Sakura, but he realized she wasn't there!

Sakura felt bad about ditching Sokka, but she had to find Zuko fast. She had to skid down three different hallways, go up four sets of stairs, and finally found the cell she locked Zuko up in.

"Zuko, are you in there?" Sakura questioned, peering through the bars of the prison cell. Her eyebrow twitched when she saw a little piece of dust fly across the bare floor.

"Hey, what are you doing there?" another guard asked her.

"The Warden assigned me to watch Zuko. But I don't know where he is," Sakura replied innocently, peering up at the guard with hypnotizing green eyes.

"Oh, well that's because Lady Mai asked to interrogate him so he's in one of the special cells. This is how you get there," the guard told her, telling her detailed directions and Sakura nodded her thanks. She bowed to him quickly and raced off to find her sweetheart…

'_I meant my friend! My… fellow comrade!' _Sakura corrected herself in her head. Inner laughed cruelly at her Outer. She vaguely recognized the sound of the gongs ringing. The prisoners around her were being released from their cells. The prison riot was starting soon.

Finding the exact cell the guard explained to her, Sakura knocked on the door respectfully. A gloomy "Come in" answered her and Sakura entered.

"Lady Mai, I have been assigned to protect you," Sakura bowed.

There was a whizzing noise, and before Mai could blink, Sakura had side stepped. Where her head had been was a sharp stiletto. "No guard I know has pink hair," Mai said in a fierce monotone.

"Pink…" Sakura paused.

_She whispered, "Kai!" and the scenery wavered before it revealed three guards walking away._

"Damn," she cursed softly. When she disabled that genjutsu, it also dispelled her cover up of black hair.

"Well I like the pink hair again," Zuko told her softly. Mai scowled.

The Goth wasted no time in sweeping Zuko's feet from under him and threw three stilettos at Sakura. The pinkette dodged them, then in a flash, threw ten kunais at the girl. Mai dropped to the floor, but one snagged the bottom of her robe onto the wall behind her. As she tried to tug it free, Sakura shouted at Zuko, "The Riot is starting soon! Let's get going." She threw open the cell door and started running down the halls. Zuko was at her heels, jumping out of the room before slamming the cell door shut again. He hesitated, turning around to face Mai.

Her gold eyes misted at the corners and she looked away swiftly. She peered through the bars of the prison cell, watching the retreating back of Sakura. "It's that pink haired wench, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Zuko said quietly, "It is."

"I'll never forgive you," she threatened.

"I know."

Zuko turned, chasing his new life.

By time they flew down the flights of stairs and reached the prison grounds, the riot was already in effect. Prisoners were charging and tackling each other, throwing fire everywhere, gagging guards and dancing on them. The couple found Suki, Sokka, Chit Sang, and Hakoda standing around a corner of the building, watching the Warden's figure intently.

"Good, Zuko, Sakura, you're here," Sokka said breathlessly once the couple skidded to a stop in front of them, "All there's left to do now is to capture the Warden."

Zuko paused. "And how are we going to do that?"

Sokka opened his mouth, before closing it quickly. "I do not know."

"What?" Zuko asked outraged, "but I thought that you said that you had everything planned out!" Sakura rolled her eyes at the two bickering boys, brushing past Chit Sang and Suki to actually do something instead of arguing.

Pumping chakra into the soles of her feet, she ran by the crowd in blinding speed, dodging past the clusters of guards and prisoners. Flipping a passing guard, she reached the other side of the crowd, running up the side of the building. She could feel the eyes of everyone on her, amazed that she was defying gravity. Once reaching the first story, she hopped up onto the rails and with great momentum, swung up onto the second story. The guards on that level finally took action, bending as much fire as they could towards her. She avoided a fire enhanced kick by ducking under him, grabbing his ankle and throwing him off the rail. Moving onto the next guard, Sakura gave him a hard punch in his lower right stomach. He toppled over, rolling a few dozen yards. Sakura ran up the side of the building again to reach the third story where the Warden was shocked by her performance.

The three guards in front of him all assumed position, synchronizing three fire punches at the same time. Sakura flipped over them, landing in a handstand to use a chakra enhanced kick to kick out at everyone's head. It crashed into the first guard whose helmet shattered within impact and he slammed into the two other guards, knocking them unconscious. The Warden battled with her Taijutsu and Sakura had to avoid a punch. Grabbing his wrist, she twisted his arm back to capture him in an arm break, taking a golden ribbon from her bodice and wrapping it tightly around that wrist. Swinging him around, she grabbed his other arm and tied the two wrists together. Unhooking the crowned ribbon he was wearing around his forehead, she turned it around so she could gag him with the cloth.

Slamming his bound form against a wall, Sakura smirked as the rest of the group finally caught up with them, hands on knees and panting harshly.

"Let's get going again," Sakura announced, swinging the Warden over her shoulder and charging off at an unnatural fast pace.

"I think I see what you mean, by 'ninja'," Hakoda told Sokka breathlessly as they sighed and started chasing after the pinkette again.

…

…

…

They arrived at the cross sections where the gondola was. Four fire benders aimed at them, unleashing a wave of fire. Zuko stepped protectively in front of Sakura, dispelling the fire with a simple swipe of his hand.

"Back off," he demanded, "We've got the Warden." Sakura threw the lump on her shoulder up in the air for emphasis. The Warden grunted in disapproval. The guards hesitantly stood to the side, the group watching Sakura's back as she carried the Warden into the gondola.

"Alright, let's get in!" Sakura announced, throwing the Warden onto the ground. Zuko stayed behind to get the gondola started. Pulling down on the metal lever, the gondola started off towards the other side of the volcano. Peering out the window, Sakura sighed dreamily when Zuko started to kick the lever, finally breaking it so none of the other guards could stop them.

Stepping back a few paces, Zuko started charging, jumping off of the railing to try to catch the gondola. Sokka leaned out the window, extending his arm for Zuko to grab.

"He's not going to catch it!" Sokka cried desperately.

"Yes he is!" Sakura shouted, grabbing Sokka's ankles and heaving him out of the window.

"NOT COMFORTABLE WITH DANGLING OUT OF A GONDOLA BY THE ANKLES!" Sokka screeched but held his hand out anyways.

Zuko grasped Sokka's wrist before falling into the boiling water. Sakura grunted slightly at the extra weight before pulling the two boys back into the gondola.

"Nice!" Suki cheered as she pulled her boyfriend into the gondola, embracing him tightly. Zuko brushed himself off before Sakura captured him in a bone crushing hug. It was nice though.

Of course, all nice moments had to be ruined.

"Who's that?" Hakoda asked, peering out of the window. Zuko and Sakura joined him, Zuko's eyes widening and Sakura glanced at him curiously.

"Who is it?" Sakura asked.

"It's my sister… and her friend," Zuko scowled, "It's a huge, huge problem."

There were two girls, one with pitch black hair pulled up into an elegant bun and burning yellow eyes. She was dressed in formal armor. The other girl had long braided brown hair and big chocolate eyes. She looked very innocent compared to the other girl. She was wearing a pink shirt, a pink tutu, and pink leggings underneath.

The pink girl hopped up onto the railing and then leaped up to land on the cord of the other gondola. Sakura could tell she was an acrobatic.

"That's Ty Lee," Zuko explained quietly to her. The other girl took manacles from another guard and blue fire released out of her legs to propel her into flying. She hooking one cuff onto the cord of the gondola, and used her blue fires to propel her forward again. The two girls landed on top of the metal gondola in no time.

"Sakura, help me with my sister, Azula," Zuko said. Sakura nodded and followed him out of the window of the gondola only to grasp the roof of the gondola and swinging herself up. Suki followed them, saying in an eager voice, "I've been waiting for a rematch with that ballerina!"

Sakura and Zuko stood in front of Azula, all three pairs of eyes narrowed. Azula had a threatening smile on her lips. She attacked first. With a sweeping kick of blue fire, Zuko dispelled it by jumping on it and shooting his own flame at her. Sakura shot three senbon needles through the flames, aiming at pressure points. Azula used her blue fire to overpower Zuko's, and quickly rolled off of the gondola to avoid being hit by the needles. Hanging on the roof of the gondola, she swung herself up with an immediate kick of fire towards the comrades.

Sakura raced in front of Zuko, engaging Azula in a hand to hand battle. Azula threw a fire enhanced punch at Sakura, and the pinkette responded by ducking under and using a chakra scalpel to cut at Azula's mid section. The princess of the Fire Nation barely avoided it, but a cut through her uniform showed that it was a close one. The golden eyes of their enemy widened before narrowing and sending a large blast of fire towards the ninja. Sakura rolled off of the gondola herself, holding onto the roof before swinging into the gondola. Hakoda and Chit Sang side stepped before Sakura flew out another window, jumping up onto the metal roof again. She slammed a punch towards the unsuspecting Azula, and the princess was only able to hold her hand up in self defense. The assuring sound of snapping bones reached everyone's ears and Azula was sent flying off the gondola. She was only able to save herself by grabbing onto the bottom rails of the gondola with her good arm.

Ty Lee gasped and Suki turned around to see what the commotion was about. Ty Lee took this to her advantage and pressed several of Suki's pressure points in the arms and legs. The Kyoshi warrior gasped in pain and was sent rolling off of the gondola. Sakura dived, grabbing Suki's wrist and gently lowered Sokka's girlfriend over the gondola so Sokka and his dad could grab her and keep her safe inside.

"CUT THE LINE!"

Sakura hung upside down, peering into the window with a disbelieving look on her face. The Warden had managed to break free of his ties when Sokka, Chit Sang, and Hakoda were busy helping Suki. The gondola jerked and Sakura's green eyes stared at the Boiling Rock again. Three guards had managed to stop the gondola by putting a metal bar where the cords winded. Next, they started to cut the cord holding the gondola up with a saw.

While Sakura was staring at the island with disbelief, Ty Lee managed to swing herself under the gondola, grasp Azula's wrist, and heave her up. With Ty Lee holding onto her, Azula powered fire into her feet and fly up to attach her manacles onto the cord to the second gondola. Powering more fire into her feet, she grunted in pain and Ty Lee offered a sad smile.

"Well, we're officially screwed over," Sokka said casually.

Zuko and Sakura climbed into the gondola again, meeting with the group who was slightly panicking.

"What are we going to do?" Chit Sang asked desperately.

Sakura glanced back at the island through the corner of her eyes. The cord thinned, causing the gondola to jerk slightly.

"I'm going in," Sakura announced, getting ready to climb out of the gondola.

"Wait, Sakura! How are you going to get back?" Zuko asked, grabbing Sakura's arm before she left.

Sakura smiled reassuringly at him, "I'm a ninja, remember?"

Zuko paused before pulling her into his arms. Kissing her softly on the cheek, he murmured again, "Just promise you'll be safe."

"Promise, pinky promise," Sakura said childishly, taking his hand and wrapping her small pinky around his long one. Climbing out of the gondola, the ninja leaped onto the cord wire again and ran towards the prison. Pulling a long scroll out of her belt, it fluttered in front of her and she summoned eight kunais, all resting in between her fingers. Shooting one hand towards the prison, the three guards who were cutting the line were pinned to the wall behind them. Shooting her other hand, their sleeves and pant legs were pinned to the wall so they were stuck.

Ten more guards came storming in. Sakura wrapped the scroll around her shoulders and took out her senbon needles. Holding one in each hand, she jabbed out at the guards, striking them in sensitive places their armor didn't cover. She managed to throw one needle to trap another guard, but before she could react, Adelia came charging at her with a fire fist ready to do some serious injury. As soon as Sakura was about to slice through her stomach, a familiar stiletto shot out, fastening Adelia's armor cuffs to stick to the wall behind her.

Spinning around, Sakura's eyes widened as she saw Mai pin three more guards to the wall and ground.

'_Why's she helping me?' _

Before Sakura could answer this, she saw another guard about to shoot fire at Mai. Doing the Goth girl a favor, Sakura threw a chakra enhanced kunai at the man behind Mai and he was thrown back a few yards to be pinned against a wall.

Mai and Sakura found themselves back to back as a crowd of fire bending guards surrounded them. The two girls locked eyes, dark amber and a deep emerald, and the two nodded before throwing their weapons. They moved in circles, attacking guard after guard with swift and precise accuracy. They found satisfaction at every clink and dull sound of metal weapons pinning their enemies down and found themselves relying on the other one to keep their backs safe.

Once Sakura and Mai both took down the last guard, Sakura held her hand out.

"Thanks for getting my back. I owe –" Sakura broke off in mid sentence when a shiny stiletto found itself making its way towards the surprised pinkette. Sakura blocked it with her own kunai and found Mai glaring at her

"You do have my thanks for watching my back, but for stealing my boyfriend, I'm sure you wouldn't mind another fight," Mai said and she launched ten throwing darts at the surprised girl.

Sakura dodged three, blocked two more with her kunai, and managed to stop the other five by catching them and deflecting them with a few kicks. Engaging Mai in Taijutsu, the two girls were fast and agile. Sakura flipped herself onto the metal barriers that kept guards from falling into the boiling water, crouching low before swinging three kunais at Mai. Mai deflected them, launching three of her own stilettos at Sakura. Sakura cartwheel out of the way, latching her legs onto the bar to fall back and then use momentum to swing herself up with ten senbon needles in both hands.

"It's time to end this!" Sakura shouted as the twenty senbon needles were launched at Mai. She was successfully able to block most of them and dodged from side to side to avoid the rest. Mai smirked, saying in her raspy voice, "You'll have to do better than that."

Sakura smirked. "I plan on it." Mai saw Sakura's fingers suddenly shining, and her eyes widened when she realized it was the sun reflecting the light off of thin, metal wires. Sakura jerked her arms back, twisting and twirling her fingers so the wires wouldn't get tangled but trapped Mai. The senbon needles lifted with every jerk of Sakura's fingers, and pinned Mai's clothes to the wall, making sure that the weapons specialist couldn't escape.

Mai paused, not even struggling against the metal wires. In a somewhat bored voice, Mai stated, "Take care of Zuko."

Sakura nodded. "Promise." Staring at Mai for a few more seconds, she averted her eyes quickly. In that simple statement, her voice and eyes gave away how much she cared for Zuko, how much of her heart was breaking, and how strong she was for letting Zuko go.

"Seriously, you should get going. The gondola has already landed and Zuko's waiting for you," Mai told Sakura in a bored voice. Sakura nodded and bowed her respect to the other girl. "I would bow back," Mai added in, "but I'm stuck."

"And I don't plan on letting you go until someone else breaks you out," Sakura shrugged. Saluting to the other girl, Sakura leaped over the bars before Mai could protest. Cocking her head and straightening her neck, Mai's eyes slightly widened when Sakura started _running _on the boiling water, rushing over the lake in a blur.

…

…

…

Sakura leaped onto the volcano wall, running up that while defying gravity. Naruto was right; the boiling water only hurts when it splashes your legs. Easing the pain with her medical chakra, Sakura reached the top of the volcano wall in no time, grasping Zuko's outstretched hand and flipping over him. Now that she was in the lead, she pulled Zuko instead, dragging him down the rocky mountains.

"We found my sister's War Ship at the bottom! We're taking that out of here!" Zuko exclaimed. He pointed to a path the rest of the group took to get down on the bottom of the volcano wall.

"Whatever, we can go my way!" Sakura shouted, grabbing Zuko's arm and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Hold on to me," Sakura directed him. Zuko blushed and Sakura rolled her eyes, "Zuko, this isn't a time for your hormonal urges as a teenage boy to take effect! Get your mind out of the gutter and hold on tight."

Zuko blushed before wrapping his arms around her neck to hang loosely. Sakura rolled her eyes again and hoisted one of his legs up and wrapped them around her waist. Holding one of his legs behind the knees firmly, she pumped the chakra to the soles of her feet, running down the rocky edges of the path. Dodging three large rocks, she skid down a few feet before leaping off and reattaching another twenty feet down. Zuko was smart and stifled his screams the entire time. Spotting another thirty feet below her, Sakura jumped off of the mountain, twisting in midair and landing on her two feet perfectly. Zuko jolted and now standing still, Sakura could feel him shaking with fright. Letting the dethroned prince down gently, Sakura held his hand, asking, "Are you okay?'

Zuko gave her a shaky smile, managing a small "uh… huh…"

Pulling him by the hand again, she helped him into Azula's metal warship. Chit Sang closed the latch after her and Zuko raced towards the control room of the ship. Grabbing Sokka and Suki, they disappeared in the room and Sakura was left with Chit Sang and Hakoda.

"So…" Sakura said awkwardly.

"So… when did you start having pink hair?" Chit Sang asked, tugging on her hair.

"And is it natural?" Hakoda added in.

Sakura pouted cutely, "I disguised my hair black so I wouldn't stand out and yes, pink is my natural color."

This launched the two older men into asking thousands upon thousands of questions about her mutated genes.

…

…

…

Sakura stopped throwing her senbon needles at the metal wall of the warship when it suddenly jerked to a stop. Peering out of a tinted window, Sakura sighed in relief when they landed in the Air Temple. Four hours of nonstop questions about her hair color and ninja abilities wore her out. Hakoda was in mid question when Sakura kicked the door open and was met by the frowning face of Katara.

Zuko and Sokka followed Sakura out and Katara started her questions, "What happened here? Why are you guys in this warship? What happened to the war balloon?"

"I finally see where she gets this from," Sakura murmured to Sokka.

"The war balloon kind of got crushed," Zuko shrugged.

"Sounds like an interesting fishing trip," Aang smirked.

"Did you guys get any meat?" Toph asked excitedly, her stomach giving out a large rumble.

"Of course Toph," Sokka said dreamily, wrapping an arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "I got the meat of friendship" here he took Sakura's arm, wrapping his other arm around the pinkette and patting Zuko's shoulders "and the meat of fatherhood."

Hakoda walked out, side by side with Suki and Chit Sang waved largely from the backgrounds. "Hey, I'm new!" he said excitedly.

"…Dad?" Katara asked disbelievingly.

"Hello Katara," Hakoda said gently and Katara rushed into her father's arms. Sokka followed her and Hakoda wrapped an arm around each child's shoulders.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Katara whimpered slightly.

"That's not how my headstrong daughter thinks! You should have known that I'd never be imprisoned for too long," Hakoda joked.

Zuko smiled and Sakura took his hand lightly.

"I think I'm ready to talk," he whispered to her.

"I'm always ready to listen," Sakura whispered back. Zuko turned and Sakura walked side by side with him, hands entwined.

"I was 11 when my father banished me," Zuko started, "It started when I begged my Uncle Iroh to let me into a war meeting…"

**Awwww, I put in so much Zukura! Sorry if it seemed kind of rushed, but I want them to have that kind of… natural chemistry. There's all this talk about Sakura not falling in love so quickly after Sasuke abandoned her, but I honestly think that her character would be someone who is passionate about love and not afraid to give it a try! Also, now in this new world, she doesn't have to take ninja duties so seriously and so she is more free to love. **

**And I have let Zuko open up to Sakura. I also figured that since in the Boiling Rock Part 2, he smiled his first real smile after seeing a real father loving his children, it would be the perfect ice breaker for him to finally open up to Sakura. Now just imagine for the next chapter, that he told her about how he was banished, his three years on the boat with his uncle, his adventures hunting the Avatar, his relationship with his Mother and Azula, and all of the history you find out about him throughout the series. So this is what I mean when you really had to watch the entire series to get my story. **

**BONUS: Alright, I had two references to one of my most favorite movie ever and a famous book that I don't like but a lot of teen girls do.**

**The first quote was from a 2010 movie based off of a famous book and it was a Disney movie. I hope you get this… **

**The second quote was from a bestseller series. I'll give you another hint, it wasn't the first book but one later in the series. **

**One more hint is that these quotes were early on in the chapter, before word 1000. Leave your answers in a review! You won't win anything but self-assured pride! **

… **well if you want me too, I'll dedicate the next chapter to the winner! **

**If you enjoyed, please review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Alright, before you all kill me for taking like six months (maybe exaggerating) to post this 4000 worded chapter, I would like to apologize. I had absolutely no reason to not update this, except for the dumb excuse of laziness. Buuut… I have good news! **

**Gefion, congratulations! You were correct!**

**My first quote was "I'll be back before you know it" from Alice in Wonderland (2010) starring Johnny Depp! Gosh I love that man… He's crazy in all of his movies, like seriously! But great job Gefion! You win… Pride! And a small part of this chapter! **

**JuaHan, did you like the Twilight series? Cause I didn't. But that quote somehow wove its way into the story and good job for catching it! **

**So congrats, this delayed chapter is dedicated to the both of you!**

**Thank you everyone, for reviewing. It honestly means a lot to me. So please continue to do so!**

Sakura snuggled into her sleeping bag, curling her hand in Zuko's and then pressing it against her warm cheek. Zuko fidgeted, turning on his side so he was facing her even in his sleep.

Last night, after Zuko confessed his entire life story to Sakura in two hours, Sakura confessed to him how she was feeling guilty about not wanting to return home.

"_And when I got to my Uncle's prison cell, he had already escaped. I want to find him, so I can apologize and redeem myself to him. But I just don't know if he'd accept. After all the pain I've put him through, how much I've taken him for granted and taken all of my anger from my father out on him, what if he gave up on me?" _

"_Zuko, you said it yourself. This man is like your father and you are like a son. Of course he will forgive you. He is a reasonable and wise old man, and he knows that you need to restore your honor by yourself, but in doing so, you will make mistakes and he will be there no matter how many times you mess up. And when the time comes for you two to meet again, I know that your relationship will only be stronger." _

_Zuko wrapped his arms around Sakura's petite waist, digging his face into her shoulder and shaking slightly. Sakura stroked his long hair, and told him her own story. _

"_I slightly know how you feel… My sensei who taught me everything I know about medical ninjutsu was like my mother as well. She understood me more than my own mother and we could always rely on each other, for her to teach me well and to keep my anger in check, and for me to get her to stop drinking when she had work." Sakura chuckled sadly at this. "But with you guys… I don't want to return anymore. Yes, I have my own family back there, my fellow comrade who I think of as a brother and my mother and my sister, friend slash rival. I feel it in my gut that they miss me and are trying everything in their power to get me back, but I don't _want _to go back. I want to stay here… with you. If you'd let me." _

_Zuko smiled sadly into her shoulder. Lifting his face and wiping a stray tear, he told her, "No. When they do come for you, you will want to go with them." _

"_The truth is… I never have been a real ninja," Sakura whispered it to him as if it were a deadly secret, "My old sensei told me… my old comrade told me… and I finally see the sense. I'm too emotional, too stubborn, and too gullible to ever become a serious ninja. The most I could do would be a medic ninja but those lives are so boring and repetitive. You go to the hospital every day, deal with screaming children and dying patients, and I'm surprised our doctors live so long with all the stress they have to live through. I don't want to live that type of life." _

"_I do want you to stay," Zuko whispered, "and I hope that you will stay with me when the time to choose comes." _

_Standing on her tippy toes, Sakura pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth. Zuko leaned down and returned the favor, lingering for a few seconds. _

"_Let's watch the stars," Sakura offered and she took Zuko's hand and led him to the center of the Air Temple. _

…

…

…

After spreading out enough sleeping bags, the entire group joined them and everyone told Sakura a story about the different stars in the sky. She fell asleep in the middle of Momo's story, the gentle coos of the monkey lulling her to sleep with her hand entwined with Zuko. It managed to stay that way the entire night.

Her perfect moment was ruined, as always, when she heard the dull clink of metal.

…_clink…whoosh…_

Sakura reluctantly let go of Zuko's hand, springing out of her sleeping bag. A large metal case flew up and was about to crash into the center of the Air Temple. Sakura powered chakra into her fist, and with a giant leap and roar, she smashed her fist into the metal case. It shuddered and the metal rippled before being thrown backwards to blow up. The big bang woke the rest of the group as ten more metal cased bombs flew towards them. Sakura kicked five out of the way, Aang blew three away, and two of them hit the stone above the Temple.

A large boulder fell from the roof, right where Katara was standing. Zuko reached her first, tackling her to the ground not so softly and landing with his arm around her waist. Aang's eye twitched before Sakura did the same to him and a large boulder landed where the last airbender's head should have been.

"Get off of me!" Katara screeched, pushing Zuko off of her. Zuko paused, shocked that she still hated him, and Sakura yelled at him "Get your head in the game!" when she slammed her fist into a boulder that was about to slam into his body. The boulder smashed into small pieces, one hitting Zuko innocently on the head.

"Right," he murmured before swaying a little.

Haru and Toph leaped to the stone wall of the Air Temple, earth bending a large tunnel into it.

"Let's go," Toph demanded, shooing everyone through the hole.

Sakura held Zuko's hand, pulling him towards the tunnel. "Let's go," Sakura told him.

"You go," Zuko said, rubbing her hand comfortably, "I have to deal with Azula."

Sakura squeezed his hand gently, "Let me help you."

"No," he said, "I don't want you to get hurt."

Ushering her towards the cave, he dropped their hands and raced off the side of the Air Temple. Sakura groaned in protest, following Aang through the tunnel. The Avatar yanked on Appa's reins, trying to convince the large bison to follow them.

"We can't get him to come through; Appa hates tunnels!" Aang protested.

"But we could barely last five seconds out there!" Katara argued.

"We'll have to manage," Sakura said shortly.

"She's right," Sokka said. Moving to the rest of the group, he told them, "You guys go down the tunnel with Haru. We'll meet up with you later."

Katara protested before Aang yanked her hand towards them. Sokka pulled Suki along with them and the couple jumped up onto Appa's saddle next to Sakura. Toph and Aang bended a large wall of earth in front of Appa to serve as armor. As soon as Appa left the temple with six passengers on his back, a large blast of blue fire hit the shield and Suki yelped.

Taking Suki's arm in her hand, Sakura formed seven hand signs in a row before her hand glowed its normal green and the slight burn disappeared.

"Woah," Suki breathed.

Sakura shrugged, "After a while, it gets pretty boring."

Azula's sharp cry caused six heads to snap towards the warship Azula was posed on. A warship behind her slowly rose and Zuko was seen through the clouds running off the warship and leaping onto Azula's. The princess wasted no time to kick a large ball of blue fire at Zuko. Zuko deflected the flames, punching three balls of fire towards her. She used her blue fire to fight off Zuko's flames, and the two siblings simultaneously charged with fire infused punches.

There was a great explosion and both brother and sister were thrown off of the warship. Zuko was flying through the clouds, scrambling in mid air.

Aang jerked Appa's reins, pulling his large friend lower and to sweep under Zuko's falling form. Sakura lifted her hand, but Katara beat her to it, extending her elbow so Zuko grabbed onto the tanner hand.

'_So much for hating him,' _Sakura thought to herself with a pout.

'**Heh… do I sense jealously?'**

'_Come on Inner. We both know that you want to rip her arm off too.' _

'…'

Sakura inwardly rolled her eyes at her Inner's immaturity. Both were soothed however when Zuko wrapped one arm around Sakura's shoulders. She grabbed his hand and led him to Appa's head. Aang blinked tiredly and Sakura took the reins from him. Zuko leaned back against Appa's furry head, wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulder again and Sakura leaned into him, guiding Appa through the skies while looking for an area they could camp out in and the rest of the Avatar gang regained their lost sleep.

…

…

…

Sakura pulled Appa down into a clear area of dirt inside a large forest of trees. Everyone blinked their eyes open and stretched, sluggishly unloading Appa again. It took them about twenty minutes to set up their three tents, get water and collect food, and start up the fire.

"So here's how we'll do it…" Sokka announced, "Me, Aang and Zuko get one tent, Katara and Toph and Sakura one, and Suki one."

"Why does Suki get her own tent?" Toph complained.

Sakura smirked, "Because, something tells me she won't be sleeping alone."

The group burst out into laughter while Suki and Sokka blushed cherry reds.

"Ah man, this is just like old times," Aang laughed whole-heartedly.

"If you want it to be like old times, I could chase you around the fire," Zuko joked.

Aang and Toph let out short bouts of laughter, Sokka and Suki laughed awkwardly, still embarrassed, Sakura smiled because it was one of those 'you had to be there jokes', and Katara was scowling in the fire.

"Hah … hah…" she echoed.

Sokka lifted his tea cup, announcing, "To Zuko! Who knew that after all those times you tried to kill us, today you'd be our hero!"

"Here here!" echoes cried and everyone but one downed their tea cups.

"Thanks guys… I don't deserve this," Zuko said bashfully.

"No, you don't," Katara scowled into her full tea cup. She dumped it on the grass before standing up and walking back to her tent.

"What's with her?" Sokka asked.

…

…

…

Sakura lied on the grass, hands cushioning her head and green eyes watched the stars. A cool breeze fluttered past her, goose-bumps rising on her arms and tears unexpectedly pooled into the corner of her eyes.

"_Sasuke-kun… I'm cold." _

_The Uchiha pierced her with a glare. Sakura shivered in response, from the cold or fear it didn't matter, and tried gaining warmth by curling into the dewy grass. Stroking her goose-bump infested arms, she clenched her eyes shut and tried to fall asleep. _

…

_A small gasp escaped her lips when a black jacket was slung carelessly over her petite form. From the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Sasuke walk away, hands stuffed in pockets while he slept on the other side of the hill. _

_Pulling the sleeves on and zipping up the black jacket, Sakura deeply inhaled the salty scent and turned up to face the twinkling stars. _

"_Arigato Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered._

Absentmindedly, she stroked her arms.

"I hate him… I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him," she whispered to herself. Her Inner stayed quiet.

'_No you don't,' _her treacherous mind whispered back, _'You still love him…' _

Sakura wiped vigorously at her eyes, _'But I'm not in love with him.' _

A blanket was thrown over Sakura, breaking her out of her thoughts. Zuko lied down next to her, hands behind head and watching the stars with her.

Sakura clenched the blanket in her hand, hot streams of tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto her neck.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Zuko asked quietly.

Sakura shook her head. He kept one hand behind his head, but used the other one to hold her shoulder, ushering her to him. She buried her face in his chest and he wrapped them both in his sleeping bag. Once they were snug and warm, Zuko wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and Sakura rested her head on it. Clenching her fists into the cloth of his shirt, she breathed in his scent of ash. It didn't smell as repulsing as she imagined it would. Instead it was strong and musky. So different than Sasuke's scent…

Looking up at the sky once more, Sakura let out a hearty sigh and fell asleep. She was vaguely aware of Zuko gently letting her go, brushing his soft lips against her forehead and crawling out of their makeshift bed.

…

…

…

A delicate hand was blindly searching underneath the blanket, a pale face scowling when she couldn't find anything. Shooting out of bed, Sakura glared at the empty space next to her.

'_Where was Zuko?' _

Flinging the blanket off of her, she folded it quietly and searched the campsite.

Sokka was hunched over the campfire, lazily roasting some fish he and Sakura had caught the night before. Nodding his head in acknowledgment to her, he let out a large sigh before smacking his lips loudly.

Glancing around, she saw no sign of the Avatar, Katara, Zuko, or Appa.

"Where is everybody?" Sakura asked, plopping herself next to him.

"Aang's still sleeping. Suki refused to get up. Toph is over there," he pointed behind him at a lump loudly snoring, "and Zuko took Katara on a field trip."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, her hand clenching the log she was sitting on. It broke under her grasp.

Nodding her thanks, she ruffled his hair playfully (laughing at his guttural protest) and found a tree. Hopping up into the higher branches, she pinched her nose and sighed loudly.

'_Relax… So what if Zuko went on a field trip with Katara and didn't invite you? So what if he didn't even ASK you even though he took you along with Sokka and Aang? Well sir, I am NOT at ALL bothered!' _

…

…

…

Aang woke half an hour later. Sakura was busy, fussing over him, straightening out his robes and folding his sleeping bag after he left. Brushing a piece of dust off of his bald head, Aang's eyes darted around wildly. He whispered loudly to Sokka, "What's wrong with her?"

Sokka shrugged.

"Don't any of you get it?" Suki asked, nibbling on her burnt fish as Sakura paced, finally settling on picking up leaves from the ground and putting them in a pile, "She's trying to stay preoccupied."

Sokka rolled his eyes. "_I _could have guessed that."

Suki continued, "Because obviously she's bothered by the fact Zuko went out with Katara without her."

"Wait, how could Zuko go out with Katara without Katara being there?" Aang asked confused.

"No," Suki slapped her forehead, "without _Sakura_."

The two boys chorused "Oooh!" Rolling her eyes, Suki threw the fish to the side.

"Wait, so Sakura wants to stay busy?" Sokka asked.

"Weren't you listening to me?" Suki responded irritably, "Yes."

A few moments passed.

"Oh Sakuuura! Will you help me with my laundry?"

…

…

…

After she finished scrubbing Sokka's tidy whities, folded them, and packed them in his knapsack, she sat on her knees, washing her hands in the creek silently. Focusing on getting rid of that one little spec of dirt on her index finger, she refused her mind to wander on the topic of Zuko.

'**Great job… You just brought him up again. Subconsciously too. How pathetic…'**

'_Shut up Inner,' _Sakura snapped harshly, _'You are my subconscious so don't blame it on me.' _

She and her Inner glared at each other in her mind, both scowling before looking away with a fit.

"Sakura!" Aang's baby voice cried out, "Can you help me…"

"Sure," Sakura broke in, grabbing what was in his outstretched hands. Skimming through the contents, she made her way back towards the river and worked on Aang's few sets of clothes.

…

…

…

It was dawn… and still no word. Sakura flipped on her back angrily, pummeling her fists in the air. She'd rather cause hurt feelings to the air then the ground. As she got up and started walking, she tripped over air.

'…**karma.' **

…

…

…

After cooking a buffet of roasted, barbequed and skinned fish cooked with wild life mushrooms and other plants, Sakura served the four other members of the team their food graciously. Everyone dug in, and Sakura ate quickly too. Once she had finished her meal and couldn't think of anything to do to occupy her time, she ran to the lake, stripping her kimono top off (leaving her in her bandages to cover her bodice) and dove into the lake, taking out all her rage on poor, unsuspecting fish. Poor, unsuspecting fish that would become their next meal.

Sokka nearly cried when Sakura caught a mountain full of fish, not only because it was pile after pile of meat, but also because the smell was making his eyes water.

…

…

…

Sakura laid on the grassy hill, hands behind her hill as she watched the clouds roll by. Cloud watching… What was Ino doing at this very moment? Sakura asked herself. Did she finally get those high heels she had been saving up for? And what about Naruto… Surely he was training with Jiraiya, trying to find a way to get her back. But, her eyes dimmed, what if he wasted his entire life trying to find her, instead of getting stronger and trying to reach his goal of Hokage? What if she was _still _dragging him down, even if she was in a different _dimension_?

She couldn't drag him down anymore, Sakura said, slightly scornful, in her head, but what if she never left and her friends could never find her… and her friends lived their entire lives mourning for her while she was having a blast with Zuko?

This wasn't healthy. Not only did she bring back the thoughts of Zuko, but the thoughts of her friends being dragged down because of her _again_ were bringing an unpleasant feeling in her heart.

…

…

…

"FINALLY!"

3:49 A.M.

Suki and Sokka blinked their eyes open, both head simultaneously popping their heads out of their tent. Aang followed suit with Momo on his head, serving as a hat, and Toph opened up the door to her earth made tent.

They all glanced at each other before sighing and looking at Sakura. She was currently tearing open a scroll, ripping the tape off harder than necessary.

Sokka glanced at Toph, rolling his hand to signal _'Go on…' _

Toph rolled her white eyes. She turned to Aang, rolling her hand.

Aang turned to Suki, hand in mid motion when he noticed she had snuck back into her tent. Glaring at the other two with bloodshot eyes, he asked hesitantly, "What'cha got there, Sakura?"

Sakura grunted.

Flinging the open scroll at the Avatar, it stuck to his face before Aang carefully pulled it off. Skimming through the contents, he read aloud:

"_Katara and I are heading for Ember Island. The Fire Lord's old summer home is there, and not hard to miss. Once we have arrived, Appa will come and pick you up. Sincerely, Zuko." _

Suki winced from inside her tent. Risking a peek, she winced again when she saw Sakura crouched and drawing depressing circles in the dirt with her index finger. There was an imaginary (or not) cloud above her head, shooting lightning down and pouring rain. Dark lines appeared on her forehead to make the picture even more depressing.

…

…

…

Appa arrived two days later. Sakura eagerly finished gutting the fish and storing however much they could into Appa's saddle before she helped them pack up the tents and sleeping bag. The five hopped on top of Appa, preparing to find Zuko (…and Katara) at Ember Island.

The entire trip there was awkward.

Suki and Sokka were afraid of showing affection in front of Sakura. Sakura looked like she was about to tear a head off a body (they had no doubt that she could) and the couple didn't feel like being the victims of the day.

Aang was just being Aang. And every time he tried making conversation, a feral growl would erupt from Sakura's throat and Aang would zip his lips shut.

…

…

…

As soon as the island came into view, Sakura leaped off of Appa, rolled on the ground, jumped to her feet, and sprinted towards the large palace at the top of the island. Slamming the doors open, she panted heavily but quickly silenced herself, eyes narrowing with disgust.

Katara was sitting on a plump couch while Zuko was positioned in front of her, down on his knees while two large hands were on her knees. Her tan hands were placed over his.

Zuko stood up immediately. Katara's arms hanged limply at her sides.

"Hi," Zuko said awkwardly, coming over to give her a hug. Sakura let his arms wrap around her waist, and she placed hers around his neck, never breaking eye contact with Katara. The blue eyes shined.

Zuko visibly relaxed when Sakura's arms locked around his neck softly. However, when he pulled away and Sakura refused to look at him, he stiffened again.

"I was just comforting Katara," Zuko said quickly.

Sakura flicked a piece of lint off her shirt.

"Hm," she hummed.

"We went hunting for her mother's killer," Zuko explained.

"_Sokka _told me."

Zuko winced at her subtle accusation. "We found him."

"Oh."

"She didn't kill him."

"Ah."

"I wanted to bring you along," Zuko said almost desperately for an answer that was longer then a syllable.

"Really."

Three syllables. Still not that good.

Zuko frowned. It wasn't a question but he still responded, "Yeah. I wanted to bring you along but Katara's always hated me so I felt like I needed one-on-one time with her."

"Uh-huh."

The rest of the group entered at that right moment. As Aang embraced Katara, Sakura drifted to Toph's side. Tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ears, Sakura conversed Toph in a quiet conversation.

Zuko sighed.

_Flashback_

_Stretching, Zuko walked out into the living room, looking around for Katara. He found her sitting dejectedly on the couch. _

"_What's wrong?" he asked softly, coming to sit next to her. _

"_I feel like I'm weak," Katara whispered. _

"_Why would you think that?" Zuko questioned. _

"_Because… I couldn't finish off my mother's killer. I couldn't avenge her," Katara felt tears prick the corner of her eyes. _

_In a flash, Zuko bent in front of her, putting reassuring hands on her knees. She tensed. _

"_Don't think that. I think that because you didn't kill him, that you are stronger than him. Did you hear how he almost sacrificed his mother to save his own hide? Vengeance is easy. Forgiving takes strength and a pure soul," Zuko told her comfortably. _

_Katara smiled warmly, placing her hands over his and squeezing lightly. Zuko smiled back at the forgiveness that shined in her eyes. _

_At this moment, Sakura burst through the doors. _

_Flashback Over_

**Oooh… the suspense! I decided to add in a slight love triangle. But of course, nothing in Sakura's life is easy and I feel like because she is brash in the series, she would immediately jump to the wrong conclusion. **

**You could say I was lazy for not writing the entire episode, but the smarter ones will know I'm a genius! And the smartEST ones will leave a review! **

**Do you want to be classified as the smartest? If you leave a review, I'll give you a line of acknowledgment!**

**Well, can't wait to see you guys again next week! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So… I decided that I would update for Valentine's Day! I know this episode was just a filler in the real series, but I thought that this episode could be how Sakura could learn about the Avatar and their past adventures. Thank you to everyone who reviewed in the last chapter! This is all for you!**

Sakura dragged the back of her hand against the soft, red silk of Azula's covers. She had been the only member okay with sleeping in the Fire Nation's princess's dorms. Sighing at the touch of the smooth fabric, Sakura started to raid Azula's closet. Zuko had already given everyone permission to change clothes if they'd like, but Sakura was the only one who needed new clothes. Her kimono top was made for cold temperatures, and she was burning up every day.

Her new outfit consisted of a dark red top that tied around her neck like a halter top and stopped at her midriff. The bottoms consisted of dark red capris with a slightly lighter red armored skirt covering the sides of her legs. A ribbon tied around her waist as a belt, tying in the middle inside a gold circle while the rest of it fell in between her legs. For accessories, she had two dark red bands on her upper arm and armor that went from her wrist to slightly below her elbow.

Exiting the room, she found Suki in the living room by herself. The Kyoshi Warrior helped Sakura with her hair. Suki carefully styled the ninja's hair, wrapping it in two buns, one on either side of her head with pink strands slightly sticking out. Suki added in two long ribbons, tying it around each bun with the ribbons dangling near her neck.

"Thanks," Sakura smiled gratefully and Suki smiled back.

Walking outside, her heart clenched when she saw Katara sitting on the patio, blue eyes focused on only one thing: A Shirtless Zuko.

Sakura leaned against a support beam, watching Zuko and Aang practice their newly earned firebending. Glancing at her fingernails, Sakura pulled out a kunai and starting filing them.

Aang and Zuko finished their routine with a bow and Aang plopped unceremoniously to the ground while Zuko stretched and flexed unintentionally. Katara rushed forward with a white towel, smiling, and Zuko smiled awkwardly back and wiped his forehead with it. Katara smiled goofily and Aang suddenly appeared in the background, gaping like a fish.

"You looked really good out there, Zuko," Katara praised and Aang glanced back at Sakura with shock. Sakura scowled at Katara's back.

"You looked great too Aang," Sakura told the bald boy reassuringly, patting his sweaty head. Zuko couldn't help but stare back at her. It was _Sakura _who was supposed to be gushing all over him; it was supposed to be _Sakura _inspecting every inch of his body, looking for wounds. And it was supposed to be _Sakura _who jumped in surprise when Sokka and Toph stormed through the back gates.

"You'll never believe what we found!" Sokka exclaimed. He threw a parchment of paper open and Toph rolled her blind eyes.

"He still refuses to tell me what it is," Toph pouted.

"Well now that everyone's here," Sokka said, "Then I'll only have to say it once."

"No, because everyone can read it for themselves while I need someone to read it to me!" Toph argued.

Sokka paused. Shaking his head, he pointed to the poster again, "Well anyways, look! There's a play… about us!"

"Not … _all _of us?" Katara asked, sparing a glance towards Sakura. Said girl gave her a tight lipped smile.

Sokka and Toph paused, feeling the tension in the air. Toph roughly jabbed him in the ribs.

"Oh right!" Sokka jumped, "The uh… The poster reads, 'The Boy in the Iceberg' is a new production, brought to you by the critically acclaimed 'Ember Island Players'."

Zuko groaned loudly, alerting everyone as he complained, "My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered 'Love Amongst the Dragons' every year."

As Katara gave a smart remark, Sakura wrapped an arm around Aang and steered him back into the house, keeping him from looking back.

…

…

…

Toph complained loudly when Team Avatar climbed up the endless stairs, finally settling on two private booths in what Toph would call it, the 'Nosebleed Section'. Declaring that it was useless that she was watching a play when she couldn't see, she took a seat next to Sokka and Suki in the second booth while Zuko sat himself in one of the middle seats in the first booth. Katara took the end seat next to him while Sakura sat to his left. Aang glanced at Katara before sitting next to Sakura.

The red curtains rose dramatically to reveal two characters pretending to canoe through the icy seas. There was a girl and boy, slightly resembling Sokka and Katara.

Sokka's character was tall and lanky with the signature ponytail and Southern Water Tribe clothes. Katara's character had a chest that could rival Hinata's while she had huge blush marks on her cheeks and a HUGE head.

Figures, Sakura snickered.

Except for the huge chest part.

Actress Katara spoke dramatically, "Sokka, my only brother, we constantly roam these icy seas, and we never find anything …fulfilling."

"The only thing I want to fill is my stomach," Actor Sokka joked.

"How can you only think of food? Is food the only thing on your mind?" Actress Katara cried dramatically.

"Well I'm trying to get it out of my mind …and into my mouth! I'm starving!" Actor Sokka grinned, throwing his arms in the air for emphasis.

"That's so pathetic, my jokes are waaay funnier than this!" Sokka cried, leaning against the frame of the front bench.

Actress Katara stood up from the canoe, crying dramatically, "Every day the world awaits a beckon to guide us, yet none appear. Still, we cannot give up hope, for hope is _all _we have …and we must never relinquish it! Even… even to our dying breath!"

Sakura stifled a giggle. W.T.F.?

Suddenly, a giant glacier appeared, the shadow of a body in it.

"What is it?" Actor Sokka asked.

"It appears to be someone frozen in ice …for perhaps a hundred years!"

"But who, who is the boy in the iceberg?"

Sakura huffed. Their acting was sooo stale.

"Water bend, HI YA!"

Actress Katara karate chopped the glacier, and it split in half. Waves of fog surrounded the stage, before a delicate body sprung out, doing a front flip in the air, before dainty feet landed soundlessly on the wooden floorboards in front of it.

"Who are you, frozen boy?" Actress Katara asked as a large gust of fog surrounded them.

When the smoke started to clear, red lips pulled into a bright smile as a very _feminine _voice called out, "I'm the Avatar silly! Here to spread joy and fun!"

This time, Sakura did burst out into laughter.

"Oh my kami…" Sakura gasped, grasping the railings for support as she tried her best to stifle the laughter that threatened to shake the entire building.

"_Shut up!_" the naturally kind hearted and gentle Avatar hissed. Wow, Sakura mused while she clamped her hand over her mouth, if Aang was this riled up, then having a female actress to play him must have been a blow below the belt.

"Sorry Aang," Toph piped in from behind them, "but you do seem to be more in touch with your feminine side…"

…

The scene changed to show Actor Zuko, with a long ponytail at the top of his head and a man who resembled the picture of Zuko's uncle, but this one looked too silly compared to the gentle but determined, strong, and confident features of Zuko's real uncle.

"Prince Zuko," Actor Iroh said in a gangly voice, "you must try this cake!"

Actor Zuko had a hoarse voice as he yelled, "I don't have time to stuff my face! I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!"

"Well, while you do that, I'll capture another slice!" Actor Iroh announced. Sakura grinned at the cheesy joke.

"You sicken me," Actor Zuko shouted in a hoarse voice again.

"You weren't that uptight, were you?" Sakura whispered to the real Zuko, cursing her friendly nature and natural attraction to him. She was supposed to be mad at him!

Zuko had a soft look in his eyes as he addressed her, which contrasted greatly with the 'harsh' words he muttered, "What are you talking about? I thought that you knew me as a sweet… sensitive… and devilishly handsome young man."

Katara snorted from his right, "Oh yeah. You were just a _doll_, whenever you tried to capture us. This actor is pretty spot on if you ask me."

Zuko snapped towards her, the soft look gone replaced with a glower, "How could you say that?"

Sakura paused, analyzing the situation. His eyes were soft when he spoke to her… And he was being loose with her again. Was there really something between him and Katara? Or had she just imagined it just like she had imagined that 'fate' had put her and Sasuke_-kun _on the same team in their genin days…

Sakura huffed and sat back, intent on enjoying the play.

"Let's forget about the Avatar, and get massages!" Actor Iroh tried convincing the fake Zuko.

Actor Zuko glowered at his uncle, snapping, "How could you say that?"

Aang was reassured by the fact that this time, Sakura's laughter was twice as loud compared to the appearance of the female him.

…

For the next twenty minutes, Sakura had fun watching the adventures of the Avatar gang, ranging from when they went to the Air Temples and found Momo, to the Kyoshi Island, the adventures with King Boomy, and when Katara stole a water bending scroll from the pirates.

The scene changed so Actress Aang was chained by her ankles and wrists on a large pedestal, and ten guards, five on each side of the pedestal, supported Actor Zuko as he announced, "The Avatar is mine!" He paused, "Wait, who's coming?"

A man danced in with a large white and blue facial mask that covered the upper half of his body while he wielded two, cardboard broadswords.

"I am the Blue Spirit, the scourge of the Fire Nation, here to save the Avatar!" it cried as it danced and all the guards and Actor Zuko fell over.

Actress Aang slipped her wrists and ankles free of the chains and hopped onto the mask's head, squealing, "My hero!"

Next to her, Zuko and Aang tensed, sending awkward and horrified glances at each other.

It didn't take Sakura long to put two and two together.

…

The next interesting scenes were when Aang, Katara, and Sokka reached the Northern Water Tribe. There, Sokka fell in love with the Princess Yue who turned into the moon, Katara learned water bending and became a master, and finally the Fire Nation launched an attack on the village and Actress Aang turned into the Avatar State, which Sakura never witnessed the real Aang doing, but this one looked like a pathetic replication, a blue fish like costume over the Actress's slim body, and she crushed small miniature ships, and in the process, tripped and fell on her butt. The curtain slowly closed and the crowd cheered.

Sighing, Sakura and the rest got up and exited the theater to sit out in the hall instead.

Huffing, Zuko sat on the steps next to Sakura and announced sulkily, "So far, this is the best part of the play…"

"Apparently," Sokka scowled, the first to start the complaining, "the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time!"

"Yeah, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other things," Suki teased. Sakura snorted her agreement.

"At least the Sokka actor looks like you!" Aang cried out, ignoring Suki, "I'm being played by a _lady_! A short, busty, and completely _female lady_!"

"Wow, you _are _riled up about this," Sakura said, eyebrows in her hairline. Shut up? Busty? What was this play doing to this sweet little boy Sakura had thought he was?

"Oh relax Aang," Katara sighed, leaning against a wall, "This play is so stupid! I mean, it's not like I'm this preaching crybaby who only talks about hope."

…absolute silence.

"Suuure," Aang drawled sarcastically, "That's not you at all…"

"Come on guys," Toph interjected, "I know it hurts, but what you see down there on stage is the truth."

…

The seven filed back into the theater, taking their original seats and settled down to watch the second part of the play. The Avatar gang arrived at the Earth Kingdom, and Actress Aang announced giddily, "I better look around to see if I can find an earth bending teacher!" A long wire attached to her back as she flew around the theater, waving to the audience, but she flew back to her original spot, saying in a depressed voice, which didn't fit her appearance or personality at all, "I flew all over town …but I couldn't find a single earth bending master!"

"Here it is," Toph nearly squealed, leaning in between Sakura and Aang's head, so cozy that she was cheek to cheek with the bald air bender. Sakura noticed Katara slightly stiffening.

"You can't find an earth bending master in the sky…" a burly voice chuckled, "You have to look underground!" A large boulder prop was hurtled towards the backstage and a large, buff man with rippling muscles, wearing a funny black wig that covered his eyes and a green earth bending outfit Toph usually wore, was slowly lifted on the stage by a moving set and he grinned arrogantly.

"Who are you?" Actress Aang gasped.

"My name's Toph, cause it sounds like tough, and that's just what I am," Actor Toph announced, pounding his chest.

"Am I… It sounds like I'm being played by a guy," Toph said appallingly, "a big… musclely _guy_!"

"I know," Katara 'tsked', "It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Are you _kidding me_?" Toph asked with a big grin on her face, matching the one that her actor was wearing, "I wouldn't have cast it any other way! I mean… it's way better than being played by a bald lady." Next to her, Aang glared.

"So you're _bliiind_?" Actress Aang asked, drawling the 'i' in blind to make it sound cute. Which it did, just not to the real Aang.

Actor Toph let out a hearty chuckle as he said in his deep voice, "I can see everything that you see, although I don't _see _it like you guys do. I release a sonic wave from my mouth." Actor Toph turned towards Aang, and he let out a mighty howl. It was a screech, louder than Sakura's laughter, and it shook the building, threatening the very foundations. The real Avatar gang sat in silence, all gasping, except for Toph who was sporting a large grin.

Finally, after another minute, Actor Toph said casually, as if he had _not _just let out a rumbling screech, "There, I got a pretty good look at you."

…

The next scene, which showed Iroh and Zuko parting ways because they disagreed on the length of Zuko's hair, Sakura already knew what happened from when he told her after the whole Boiling Rock incident. So she sat back and watched the next scenes of the Avatar gang, and Zuko and his Uncle all beating up on Azula, Azula trying to drill into the city of Ba Sing Seng, and Jet, from before who had been another one of Katara's love interests, had turned loony and he was crushed by a cardboard rock prop.

"Wait, so did he die?" Sakura asked, cocking her head to the side. Sokka agreed with her "It was really unclear", but she didn't hear that as green eyes narrowed in on the next scene.

Actor Zuko and Actress Katara were trapped in crystal caves, a scene which the real Zuko had never mentioned to her…

"I have to admit, _Prince Zuko_, I really find you attractive," Actress Katara purred. Oh yeah, and he forgot to mention _that _too.

"You don't have to make fun of me," Actor Zuko sulked with that hoarse voice of his.

"But I _mean_ it," Actress Katara continued, fluffing her hair suggestively, "I've had _eyes _for you since the day you first captured me…"

Actor Zuko shrugged away the hand on his shoulder as he exclaimed, "But wait! I thought you were the Avatar's girl…"

Next to Sakura, Aang nodded fiercely. If Sakura weren't so heated right now, she would have thought it was cute …but kind of freaky (because it was).

"Hah, the Avatar?" Actress Katara mock laughed, "Why… he's like a little brother to me! I certainly do not think of him in a romantic way…"

Pressing herself to Actor Zuko's side, she breathed, "Besides… how could he _ever _find out, about this?" And the two cuddled. The curtain slowly closed and Aang and Sakura's eyes were slits.

Aang stood up abruptly, and Sakura glanced back at him. Should she go vent too? No, Sakura shook her head, she can't miss any more of this play. It was providing her with information she didn't want to know, but was beneficial all the same.

The next scene, Actor Zuko was in between Actress Azula and Actor Iroh. Actress Azula announced, "Well, my brother, what is it going to be? Your nation …or a life of treachery?"

"Choose treachery," Actor Iroh said in a silly voice, "it's more fun!"

Actor Zuko walked towards Actor Iroh, while Actress Azula gasped, "No way!" before Actor Zuko pushed his fake uncle down harshly.

"I hate you, Uncle! You smell, and I hate you for all time!" And with that, Actor Zuko left and the curtain slowly fell.

All immense resentment for Zuko evaporated as Sakura couldn't help the softening of her eyes and the tug at her heart strings.

"You…" Sakura swallowed down the rest of her rage, "You didn't really say that to him…, did you?"

Zuko lowered his eyes, shoulders tense as he murmured, "…I might as well have…" Sakura felt her affections for him win over against the dislike, and hesitantly took his hand in her own. Zuko glanced at her in shock, before warmth spread in his eyes and he curled his fingers around her own.

When Actress Aang turned into the Avatar state, Actress Azula shot him with lightning. Actress Aang fell to the ground, and Actress Azula announced, "The Avatar …is no more!"

The crowd cheered loudly, and the Avatar gang filed out of the room again for the second intermission.

…

Immediately, Sokka and Suki retreated to sneak into the backroom to talk to the Actor Sokka, Katara left in pursuit for Aang, and Toph ran away to get more snacks. Sakura and Zuko sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. One of Sakura's legs was extended in front of her, and the other was bent slightly. Zuko had his knees slightly drawn to his chest as he stared down at his fists which were slowly clenching and unclenching.

"Hey," Sakura said quietly.

"Hi," Zuko said equally. He sighed long and loud and turned to her, determination flashing in his gold eyes, "Sakura, what are we doing?"

Sakura froze, pulling her legs to her chest in a submissive position as she whispered, "I don't know Zuko…"

"Sakura… I promise, I'll be honest with you about _everything _that's happened, as long as you be honest with your feelings," Zuko pledged, taking one of her hands in his own.

Sakura sighed, long and hard. "Zuko," Sakura paused, "I care about you, I really do. The feelings I have for you, are the strongest I've felt for anyone, and it just hurts when I think about you having feelings for someone else… I know that everyone has past lovers, but it's like… there's this gong in my stomach, and when you get closer… someone rings the gong and suddenly I'm aware of your presence. Zuko, you're doing things to me that I'm slightly scared of."

Zuko smiled, soft and full of emotion as stroke her baby soft cheek gently.

"Sakura, I swear that nothing _ever _happened between me and Katara. When you walked in on us, we were just having a revelation, but nothing more. Then, she's only gushing over me because while we've been rivals for so long, the fact that we're now friends is slightly overwhelming for the both of us, and we're just trying to be friendly. Nothing more, nothing less. There's only one girl I really care for in a romantic way, and her skin is much lighter, hair color unnatural, and beauty incomparable," Zuko admitted.

Sakura grinned, leaning into his touch. "I knew it," she mused, "I'm _always_ coming up with the most absurd assumptions."

"So what does this make us?" Zuko asked

"I guess…" Sakura breathed.

"What are you guys doing?" Sokka cried, "The play's about to start and my Sokka actor is going to get a lot funnier!"

Zuko clenched his eyes shut, before shooting a hate filled glare at Sokka. Suki quickly retreated as Sakura clenched down on the wooden floor boards, one crumbling into dust under her chakra infused grip.

"We're coming," Sakura said shortly, standing up as she took Zuko's hand to help him up. The two stared at each other, before Katara scurried past them into the theater. Sakura's eyebrow cocked, slightly forgetting about her almost kiss when she saw Katara's eyes slightly dilated and lips swollen. Sakura scowled. Well Katara got a kiss, why didn't she?

…

While the scenes played, Sakura felt no interest in them as Inner Sakura cursed Sokka and Katara with malicious threats that Sakura didn't even know that Inner knew! And Inner was a part of her! So far, the group went to the Fire Nation, Aang got better, Katara was the painted lady, Sokka got a sword, and some guy who could shoot lightning out of his head died. Finally, Aang came back, a little disgruntled, but his lips slightly swollen as well.

Turning her attention back to the play, Actress Katara and Actress Aang stood on top of some metal ships, Actress Katara announcing dramatically, "I just want to let you know, Aang, that I'll always love you …like a brother!"

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Actress Aang nodded, and the two shared a nifty handshake.

Actor Sokka stepped forward into the stoplight as he addressed Actor Toph, "Hey Toph, would you say that you and Aang have a …rocky relationship?"

The audience laughed and Sokka grinned boldly, slapping his thigh as he laughed loudly into Suki's ear.

The scene changed to Actress Aang standing in the palace, saying to herself, "I finally made it to the royal palace …but no one's home!"

"Actually," Actor Zuko's hoarse voice rang out, "I'm home! And I want to join you!"

Sokka made ready to stand, whispering to the others, "I guess that's it, the plays caught up to the present."

"Aw," Sakura pouted, "but I didn't even appear once…"

Suki smiled, "Well it would have been hard for the playwrights to find a pink wig…"

"Wait," Zuko paused, "I don't think that's it…"

"But how could they have found out about anything past that?" Sokka asked, "…unless this is the _FUTURE_!"

Suki slapped him over the head and the gang returned their attention to the play.

A regal looking man stepped out on stage, wearing fancy armor and his hair done in an elegant bun. A bright, orange, cardboard comet flew over head and the man announced, "With the energy harnessed from that comet, no one will be able to stop the Fire Nation!"

Ah, Sakura mused, the Fire Lord.

"Father," Actress Azula ran from behind the curtains and bowed in front of her fake father, "Zuko and the Avatar are at the palace. They are trying to stop you!"

"You take care of Zuko," the fake Fire Lord said, "I shall face the Avatar, myself."

POOF

The two disappeared and Actress Aang and Actor Zuko stood in the clearing. Actress Azula emerged again, wearing a haughty smirk on her face.

"Aang, you find the Fire Lord! I'll hold her off," Actor Zuko announced.

"You are no longer my brother," Actress Azula sneered once Actress Aang was gone, "You are an enemy!"

"No!" Actor Zuko shouted, "I am the rightful heir to the throne!"

"We'll see," Actress Azula hissed dangerously. Sakura shivered slightly. Even the fake Azula was scary…

Actress Azula pulled out two long blue strips from her sleeves, and flung them at Actor Zuko. Actor Zuko pulled out his own red strips, and in a flash of acrobatic flips, the two landed about twenty feet away. Actress Azula raised her fist, and cloth fire raised throughout the stage, before one finally reached Actor Zuko and fell over him.

"Hooooonor!" Zuko shouted and he disappeared from the stage.

The real Zuko winced and everyone stared at him in shock while the crowd cheered louder than they had before.

The scene switched abruptly, to Actress Aang facing off with the Actor Fire Lord.

"So you have mastered all four elements?" Actor Fire Lord asked mockingly.

"Yeah," Actress Aang sing-songed, "and you're going _down_!"

"No," Actor Fire Lord maliciously said, "it is _you _who are going down!" He stepped down from his throne and announced, "You see, you are too late! The comet is already here, and I'm _unstoppable_!"

Actress Aang pulled out light blue, bordering white, long strips of paper and she fought against the Actor Fire Lord with his hot red strips. While Actress Aang flipped in mid air, Actor Fire Lord shot his hand out, and a large cloth of red circled around the stage before wrapping around Actress Aang's delicate body.

"Noooo!" Actress Aang cried and the wires attached to her slowly lowered her to the stage safely.

"It is over Father," Actress Azula yelled, "And we have done it!"

"Yes," Actor Fire Lord shouted, "We have done it! The dreams of my father and my father's father, are now being realized! The world …is _mine_!"

The crowd stood up on their feet, hollering their praises and giving a standing ovation. Aang had a horror stricken look on his face and his milky complexion was paler than usual.

…

"That wasn't a good play," Zuko said as the seven walked home.

"I'll say," Suki snorted.

"Horrible," Katara shook her head.

"Why did we even go?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You said it," Aang nodded.

Sokka paused. "But the effects were decent…"

**So I hope that you liked it, please review if you did! Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and I hope you ended up with your special someone :)**


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